


Peppermint and Sea Salt.

by BawdryWeirdsley



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Anal Fingering, Angst and Feels, Beach Holidays, Beach Sex, Body Image, Bottom Loki (Marvel), Bullying, Enemies to Lovers, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Homophobia, Horny Teenagers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Power Exchange, Recreational Drug Use, Semi-Public Sex, Smut, Step-Sibling Incest, Step-siblings, Suicidal Thoughts, Summer Vacation, Teenage Rebellion, Teenagers, Top Thor (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:55:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24646789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BawdryWeirdsley/pseuds/BawdryWeirdsley
Summary: If Loki's mum thinks he'll accept his freshly minted father and step-brother she's wrong. Loki is determined not to bond with his new brother, especially when he's the perfect, golden son he's never been himself. But when the new family head to the beach on vacation Loki discovers that there might be more depth to the rich, handsome Thor Odinson than he'd imagined.Thor's past is as troubled as his own, and that's not all they have in common.AU in which Loki is British, Thor is Australian, and Odin is, as always, a dickhead. Triggers in the tags.
Relationships: Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 99
Kudos: 269





	1. Chapter 1

_For fuck’s sake, just let it go._

But naturally his brand new, shiny goddamned stepbrother is already running after the hat as the warm wind bowls it along the beach. Loki wills him to tangle his feet together, to eat sand, but of course nothing like that happens. Thor snatches the hat up from the edge of the waves and ambles back towards him, slow, and loose-hipped like a gunslinger, one hand held up to shield his eyes from the sun, taking his time.

_If he thinks I’m going to say thank you he’s even more of a dumb blond than he looks_.

“Almost lost it.”

Loki accepts the battered straw hat back with the barest of nods. 

There are tiny grains of sand trapped in Thor’s arm hairs. The hairs themselves are pale against the deep tan of his skin. Loki never tans, he burns, hence the stupid hat.

“Windy today. They said there’s gonna be storms tomorrow. Dad’ll be pissed if they can’t take the yacht out.”

Thor’s dad - _your new step dad, don’t forget it-_ seems more interested in pawing Loki’s mother than the much-vaunted fishing expedition, but Loki doesn't voice this thought out loud. Besides the fact that Thor Odinson could probably tear his head off his shoulders without breaking a sweat, Loki is unwilling to yield even the smallest inch of ground in this war of attrition. If his mother thinks he’s going to accept this ready-made brother, she’s mistaken. Even forming an alliance against their respective parents would be letting her win.

“You want to swim?”

“No.”

Thor grins, as though Loki is making a joke. He looks even more like some teen idol when he smiles. It makes Loki hate him more. Loki wishes he’d leave. He wishes he’d been ugly. The fact that he’s so bloody perfect makes the whole mess even worse...Although it _must_ piss Odin off a little. His own mum has gained the perfect son along with her rich new husband. Odin has been lumbered with Loki.

“You sure? Probably won’t be able to tomorrow.”

“You swim if you want to.” 

Saying a full sentence to Thor will be worth it if it buys him some peace. 

“I could show you how to surf.”

“I’m not the surfing type.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know how either a few years back, it’s not too hard.”

Loki only rolls his eyes. _For you, maybe._ Unlike Loki in his new shorts and crisp, shop fresh T-shirt, Thor looks like he belongs on this Californian beach. Like he was born here even, formed from sea foam. You’d never guess he’s some rich trust fund kid to look at him, with his long hair tangled and sticky with salt, and his T-shirt ripped and faded from sun and seawater. You’d never guess at the private overseas education (which is presumably where he picked up the peculiar accent that goes back and forth between Australian and something else). You wouldn’t guess about the huge, modern flat in London, the Brownstone in Manhattan, and the mansion on the Gold Coast. You’d never guess that his dad regularly makes the rich list and the front pages of of the Tabloids and Broadsheets both. That’s how Odin and Loki’s mum had met. She manages his UK PR. Among other things. 

_Did he make you sign a prenup, mum? That’s what usually happens is you marry The Help, isn’t it?_ That had been the only time he’d seen Frigga close to losing it with him, so he guesses he was right. So much for True Love. _You’ll be eighteen in a year, then you can do whatever you like,_ she’d told him. _But until then you’re part of this family, like it or not._

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he’d met Thor for the first time. Certainly not that he’d look like any other beach bum in this vacation town, with his board shorts and ball cap. Truthfully he looks like the kind of boy who used to beat Loki up in the changing rooms at his school back in London. _The kind I can’t help but fancy, even as he knocks my teeth out._ He never falls for quiet, intellectual, brooding types like himself. It’s always brutes. _Like him. Thor bloody Odinson._

Loki pushes the thought away with a shudder. So, the famous Thor Odinson has turned out to be a juice head trustafarian bro instead of some stuck-up finishing school wimp. What’s the difference? Loki knows that this holiday is supposed to provide neutral ground on which the two of them can get to know each other; It’s painfully obvious what the ploy is. What do their parents think the two of them are doing when they send them out to the beach each morning? Building sandcastles? Swapping stories? Getting with the program, as the Americans say?

_Not happening, mum._

Thor had finally gotten the hint yesterday, and gone off surfing alone. He’s graceful considering his size, knifing along the glassy curves of the rolling waves as though he’s a part of them.

_No one will ever take us for real brothers. At least there’s that._

Loki had watched him over the top of the book he was pretending to read for nearly an hour, fascinated in spite of himself and his determination to hate everything about both Thor and this stupid holiday.

The sea is flatter today, and Loki’s glad. It scared him a little. The power of it. How small you feel next to it.

_One more grain of beach sand_.

He thinks again of the hair on the backs of Thor’s arms, glittering with sand. _His skin would taste of salt._

* * *

The shipping forecast has sunk Odin’s plan for the family fishing trip- Thank Christ- but that had meant watching him paw Loki’s mother all morning instead, until he’d given both Thor and Loki $50 and told them to treat themselves to lunch. Loki has left his banknote lying on the kitchen counter where Odin will hopefully see it and get the message. He shoves carelessly through the crowds of hurrying holiday makers who are out in force, trying to pack a whole day’s fun into the few remaining hours before the storm makes land. He half hopes one of the sunburned meatheads he collides with will take a swing at him. He’s in the kind of mood where he wants to be hurt himself almost as much as he wanted to hurt those around him. To self destruct. He doesn’t even notice Thor is trailing after him until he reaches the relative solitude of the beach.

_Why does he have to follow me everywhere I go?_

“We could go to the boardwalk. There’s an arcade.”

“An arcade? I’m not twelve.”

Thor shrugs. “Well, I guess it’s the beach hut, then. Unless, you want to sit here in the rain.” Thor squints back towards the town, veiled now in the first of the rain. “I still can’t believe they chucked us out in this.”

“I can,” says Loki with a shudder. As furious as he is, it’s better out here than it would be in there. He has a pretty good idea why Odin and Frigga want their sons out of the house. _Revolting_.

Black clouds have begun to pile on the horizon and the surface of the water has turned a bilious, metallic green. Yesterday the water had been filled with people swimming or surfing, but no one’s out there today, and the beach itself is empty but for one stalwart dog walker in the far distance- and the two of them. Gulls flee inland, and already the wind whips up the sand, so that he has to close his eyes against it. The rain isn’t like London rain. It’s warm and smells freshly created, not like the weary London rain freighted with soot and age and stone.

Thor whistles as the first bolt of lightning licks the waves far offshore. “It’s coming. Seriously, mate, we should get inside.”

“Why don’t you go and get lunch, like your dad said?”

“I’m not hungry.” Besides, Thor rubs the flatness of his belly. “They don’t sell anything here that’s not fried. I’m eating clean.”

“How Californian of you.”

“Don’t have to be Californian to take care of yourself,” says Thor.

Loki shakes his head. “If you say so.”

“I do. Don’t get a figure like this stuffing your face with chips.”

Loki tries and fails not to look as Thor flexes his muscles.

“Are you trying to impress me or something?”

“I’m just kidding,” Thor says, raising his hands. “But I’m not hungry. And it’ll be crowded as hell in all those places. At least out here it’s peaceful.”

“It could be.” 

_If you’d leave._

“Did dad tell you about the beach hut?”

“I don’t know,” Loki says. “I try to tune him out as much as possible.”

His goad fails to find its mark.

“It’s actually pretty cool. We used to stay in it some years when it was just dad and me. It’s a little rustic, but better than getting fried by lightning.” He holds up a small shiny object. “I have the key. It’s just down the beach a way.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well,” says Thor. “It’s that or go back to the house.”

Loki screws up his nose. “This beach hut...Why aren’t we staying in it now?”

Thor looks momentarily sheepish. “I think he’s trying to impress your mum, with that big place in the town.”

“It’s working,” says Loki flatly.

“Yeah.”

It’s the first time Thor has sounded anything but docilely accepting of their parent’s scheme and Loki gives him a long sideways look. _He certainly looks like a dumb blond._ Maybe he’s less stupid than he appears? It doesn’t make Loki like him any more, but it is something to think about. Something other than the physicality of him. The way his seventeen-year-old body is muscled like that of a man. The loose, easy way the soft grey cotton shorts he wears around the house hang off his hip bones. Even the smell of him- too much aftershave, and the bloody gum he never stops chewing seems to follow Loki from room to room.

“So. are we going or not?” asks Thor. “I guess we could walk back into town, hang out with the tourists.”

“No.”

“You can’t stay out here. It’s going to be a big one, I reckon. Perhaps we’ll get stuck in the beach hut? Make them feel _really_ guilty.”

Loki would like to argue, but the sea quells him. It looks angry, like a great, heaving beast, the foam lunging up the shore towards them with a roar. Staying outdoors suddenly seems like a bad idea.

_Coward. If you really wanted to show her how you felt about this, you’d walk into it._

The momentary image of his mother weeping over his waterlogged corpse is a satisfying one, but soon eclipsed by the thought of how it would be to have your lungs scoured by saltwater and sand. The violence of it.

_Knowing my luck Thor would save me. Pull me to shore. Bend over me, and press his mouth against mine. He’d taste of peppermint, and sea salt._

He shakes his head, as though to clear phantom water from his ears.

_Perhaps I’m losing what’s left of my mind?_

“Is it far?” he asks.

* * *

The beach hut stands alone in the dry sea grass at the edge of the shore. Thor swears as he fiddles with the lock, but eventually it yields. The keening of the wind has risen to a howl, and it takes both of them to wrestle the door closed again. The small windows are coated in salt and the little light that filters through is weak and watery. The sun-bleached timbers of the small building creak like those of a ship, and Loki wonders if it will come down around their ears. A better way to go than drowning, but less poetic. Nevertheless, the space feels quiet and calm after the madness of the stormy sea.

_Intimate._

Loki realises he’s standing so close to Thor that they’re almost touching, and takes a step away. 

“I think there’s a lantern,” Thor says, striding away to rummage in a cupboard. “Looks like there’s still some fuel.”

The lantern light reveals a large, square room. A battered sofa crowds a listing coffee table at the center of it, and a couple of low bunks are set against the back wall. The air is stale and hot, like no one’s been in here in years. The tangle of fishing rods by the door supports a hammock of cobwebs, and the photographs on the wall are furred with dust. Someone’s sandals lie by the mat curled up like cast-off skins. There’s that word again; _Intimate_. Loki feels as though he’s an unwilling burglar here, creeping into the memories of this family that he doesn’t, and never will belong to.

“It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” he says, just to break the silence. “More than a hut.”

“I guess,” Thor shrugs. “Dad likes to imagine we’re roughing it sometimes.”

Loki has to laugh. “Nice for ‘roughing it’ to be optional. Must be great being rich.”

Thor shakes his head. “Well. You’re rich too now, aren’t you?” There’s an edge to his voice now. Something hard beneath the humour, that pleases Loki. He’s been spoiling for a fight for days.

“You think I want your dad’s money?”

Thor shrugs.

“You think I want to be here at all?”

Thor simply flops down into one of the sofas, raising a cloud of dust.

“You want to relax, mate. Give the whinging pom thing a rest for five minutes.” He fishes in his pocket and pulls out a glass pipe.

“You smoke?”

Loki gapes, momentarily distracted, and Thor chuckles.

“That a no?”

“It’s...I’m just surprised you do.”

“Why?”

“Well...” Loki says weakly. “You’re the golden boy.”

“That what you think?”

“Well, of course.”

“Why of course?”

Loki throws up his hands. “Look at you. You’re perfect”

“Perfect?” Thor asks, smiling.

Loki hopes the light in the cabin is dim enough to hide the blush he feels creeping across his face. He sits down on the dusty rag rug.

“All I hear from mum is how fucking perfect you are. You go to that big deal International school. You’re this star athlete. You’re...”

_Gorgeous_.

“Y _ou_ seem fine with this whole marriage.”

Thor shrugs, packing the bowl as though he’s done it a thousand times.

“What would I say to stop it? Dad’s never listened to me. Barely sees me. These summer breaks are the only time he bothers, so what am I going to do? Make him _not_ be a selfish bastard? And as for school, I got expelled. Last year. Did your mum not tell you?”

Loki’s glad he chose to sit down. The world seems to reel beneath him. Two images of Thor dance before his eyes, the perfect golden boy he’s lived with for the past two weeks, and this new Thor who smokes pot and got chucked out of school and doesn’t seem much fonder of Odin than Loki is himself.

“Y _ou._ Got expelled,” he says, as if speaking the words aloud will reconcile the two Thors. 

Thor frowns as he sets the pipe between his lips and flicks the lighter to the bowl. Loki wrinkles his nose up at the piney scent of the weed. _I guess he can afford the good stuff. And I guess that explains all the bloody chewing gum._

Thor blows out a lungful of smoke. “Yup. _I_ got expelled.”

“For what?”

Thor flops back into the cushions, grinning. 

“Yeah, nah, that’s not how it works. I told you something, so now you’ve got to tell me something.” He offers the pipe to Loki, who takes it as though it was a snake that might twist in his hands and bite. 

“What do I do?”

“You never smoked before?”

“Of course I have,” says Loki, annoyed. “But not a pipe. We roll joints where I come from.”

Thor leans forward. “I’ll show you.”

The hands that cup Loki’s are larger than his, the skin surprisingly soft. He finds he’s not concentrating much on what Thor is telling him, but it’s not exactly tricky to figure out, even with the distraction of Thor’s breath on his knuckles and those blue eyes so close to his own.

“There. Unwind, little brother.” His tone is teasing.

“Fuck you, I’m not your little brother.”

They both flinch as the first thunder booms outside.

“Just in time,” Thor says. 

What’s packed into the bowl is the good stuff, and it hits Loki right away, fuzzing the sharp edges of his anxiety. The storm rages louder outside, but it seems less important now. When Thor’s fingers brush his own again as he hands the pipe back he doesn’t recoil. In fact the knot of tension in him has unwound enough that he heaves himself off the sandy floor to sit gingerly on the sofa. It might smell like dust and mice now, but once upon a time it must have filled out a room much bigger than this one and it’s plenty long enough to keep some room between them.

“So,” Thor says “What were _you_ expelled for?”

Loki shakes his head, disgusted. “So mum told you all about me. Typical.”

“No one told me. I just listen,” Thor says. “Some people think I’m kind of a dumb blond, you know? Say all sorts of things they don’t think I hear.”

Loki frowns. “What’s that meant to mean?”

“Nothing.” Thor gives his thigh a push with his foot. He’s kicked off his shoes and his bare toes leave sand on Loki’s shorts. “Answer the question.”

His Australian accent is thicker now. The weed working on him, the way it’s working on Loki, no doubt. Ten minutes ago he’d have been stalking out of here to take his chances with the lightning, but he can’t quite summon the rage for it now.

“I got in a fight,” he says.

“That’s it?”

“Well...” Loki pauses. “It was pretty serious. The police got involved.”

“Why?”

Loki pauses. “There was a knife.”

“Shit. Someone stabbed you?” asks Thor,.

“I stabbed someone else. They said.”

Thor whistles. “You? No _way_.”

He feels almost proud at Thor’s astonishment, and then annoyed at himself for caring. 

“Yeah. I could’ve gotten arrested, but the other lad’s parents decided not to press charges.” He laughs. “If they’d come after me they’d have had to have told everyone what their precious boy did. All the months and months of shit. How _he_ and his mates jumped _me_. Not the first time, either. How they stole my stuff and followed me home, and made my life a living fucking nightmare for years. So I got expelled, and he’s probably roaming the streets kicking in faces he doesn’t like the look of to this day.”

Thor is silent a moment, then he says. “Sorry.”

“Well. Pass me the pipe, yeah?”

Thor hands it off to him.

“I wouldn’t have made you tell me, mate...”

“It’s fine,” Loki interrupts sharply. _I’m not your mate._ “So, what about you? Don’t tell me anyone dared bully you.”

Thor shakes his head. “Not that, no. It was a bunch of small stuff. I just didn’t fit into the box they wanted me to fit into, I guess. They had all these big plans for me. Dad thinks his business is some sort of Kingdom, and one day I’m going to rule it all. But I’ve never wanted to.”

“What a terrible burden.”

“Fuck you,” Thor says with a grin. “It is a burden if you don’t want to bloody do it.”

Loki’s surprised at the twinge of guilt he feels. “I guess.”

“Yeah, well I know people have worse problems, but I never wanted to be this big, high-achiever.” He takes another drag on the pipe and squirms deeper into the cushions.

“So what do you want?” Loki asks.

“I like to surf. I want to go back home, to Australia. I fucking hated Switzerland, and here’s not much better.”

“And what would you do there?”

“Maybe I could open a surf shop or something?”

“Maybe.”

Thor sighs. “Yeah, right. He’d never give me the money for that.”

“So? Earn it yourself. That’s what everyone else has to do.”

Thor shakes his head. “You really are a dick, you know that?”

Perhaps it’s the weed, but Loki surprises both of them with a burst of laughter.   
“I work so hard at it, and you think I might not have noticed?” 

Thor laughs too. “Fair enough.Trust me to get a fucking lunatic for a brother.”

“We’re not brothers,” Loki says quickly.

Thor is silent a beat, then says “OK. I’ll drink to that. Speaking of which I reckon there’s still some vodka stashed in here.”

“Stoned is one thing,” says Loki, “But even they might notice if we come back drunk _and_ stoned.”

“Like you care? I thought you wanted them to see how fucked up all this is making you? That’s what your big emo act is all about, right?”

Loki shakes his head. “Now who’s being a dick?”

“Right though, aren’t I? It won’t work anyway. They’re both the same type. Get what they want, fuck everyone else.”

Loki struggles to haul himself into a more upright position as Thor rummages through cupboards.

“Like you know what ‘type’ everyone is all of a sudden.”

“Fair. I don’t know what type _you_ are,” Thor says, clambering up a creaking bookshelf. He gives Loki a wink. “Maybe I’ll find out if you keep bogarting my weed?”

Loki snorts and tosses the lighter onto the table. There’s an undercurrent to what Thor’s saying, but his dazed mind can’t make sense of it.

“No vodka” says Thor, finally. “But I found something way better.” He holds aloft a dusty box. 

“Monopoly!”

“Let the sea take me,” Loki mutters.

* * *

“You’re cheating.”

“No I’m not,” says Loki, primly. “You’re just shit at playing.”

“Yeah you are, you never had a hotel there last turn.”

“You can borrow from the bank,” Loki says. “My rates are very reasonable.”

“And why are you in charge of the bank, anyway?” Thor asks.

“Because you can’t count past three.”

“I told you ten times! It’s too dark in here to see the dice properly!” Thor exclaims. 

Loki laughs. “If you say so.”

The lantern is flickering, and it’s getting warmer in the hut despite the wind that creeps in through the knotted wood. The surf crashes on the sand outside and the wind rattles the roof and the boards of the walls, but Loki finds he doesn’t much care.

Thor throws down the last of his money, disgusted. “Alright, you win. So much for Monopoly.”

They’re back on the floor again, sitting cross legged over the board. Now Thor leans back, leaning against the sofa.

“Christ it’s hot in here.”

“Go outside, then.”

“Hilarious.”

Thor wipes his brow on the back of his arm, then pulls his shirt off over his head in one careless movement. Loki looks quickly away.

“Now I get to ask you something else.”

“What?” Loki asks.

“I told you about me getting thrown out of school, so now I get to ask you something else.”

“Nope. You never told me the reason.”

“Yeah I did,” says Thor.

“A bunch of little things isn’t an answer.”

Thor’s phone buzzes, but they both ignore it.

“Fine,” he says. “I snuck out after hours a bunch of times to go drinking. I got caught with alcohol hidden in my study. I got pulled over in a...borrowed car with a bunch of kids from the town.” He ticks them off on his fingers. “They found weed in my coat, but that wasn’t mine, and I got caught in someone else’s bed after lights out. They wouldn’t normally care about that, but by then they wanted rid of me, no matter how much money Dad was bribing them with. That enough for you, Loki? It was enough for them.”

Loki chews a nail. “Someone else’s bed? A student?”

“Well it wasn’t a teacher. I’m not that fucked up.”

“Your school was co-ed?”

Thor looks at him levelly. “Nope.” He laughs. “You look surprised.”

“I’m not,” Loki says, weakly. But he is. Of course he is. _He looks just like them. All those tough, athletic boys who call you poof and shove you down._

“Who was he?”

“A mate. Fandral. We were just mucking about, really. Perhaps you’ll meet him one day?”

_I’d rather throw myself in the sea._ Is it jealousy he’s feeling? It _can’t_ be.

“At my school they’d kick your head in for that, never mind the teachers.”

Thor nods. “That why they went after you?”

“No!”

“I mean, I don’t care if it is.”

“Did mum tell your dad?” Loki demands. His heart is pounding and his head is a jumble of confused images. His own blood spattering onto the porcelain of a sink, staining his white school shirt with droplets like roses unfurling their petals. Himself circling round the Tube station, jittery with adrenaline because the whole lot of them are there, waiting for him like sharks. Thor slipping into bed with his friend, after the lights were turned out, in a room as close and hot as this one. 

Thor holds up his hands. “No one told me. I just...”

“Used your magic powers?”

Thor shrugs. “Should we talk about something else?”

“I don’t want to talk to you at all.” Loki says, shoving the Monopoly board away with his foot. “They think they can make us be brothers. Or friends, or something.”

“And you don’t want to be?” Thor says.

“Why should I? Why should I make this easy for them?”

“Fair,” says Thor. “I felt the same way. But then...”

“Then what?”

Thor takes a drag on the pipe. “Sounds like it’s really coming down out there.”

Then _what_?”

Thor looks up at him. “I kind of like you anyway. Despite the fact you’re a dickhead.”

“Cheers.”   
Something else seems called for. 

“You’re less of a twat than I thought you were,” Loki says, stiffly.

Thor winks at him. “So sentimental, you Brits.” He stretches and Loki tries not to look at the shift of his muscles.

“It’s a shame we didn’t meet somewhere else,” Thor says. “Maybe we’d be mates?”

“”I wouldn’t go that far.”

Thor lobs a dice at him.

“Alright. Maybe I wouldn’t completely hate you.” He sighs. “But the way things stand I kind of have to.”

“Because the two of us getting along will make them happy?” Thor asks.

“Yeah. I know it sounds petty...”

Thor shrugs. “What if there was a way for us to get along that they’d hate?”

Thunder rumbles overhead.

“Like what?” asks Loki.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor doesn’t know how to feel about his new step-mother. She seems nice enough the couple of times he’s met her before this holiday.  _ Nice _ isn’t the issue though. He’s never had much of a relationship with his dad, and hurts to have Odin’s limited attention split still further away from himself. Odin barely has time for one kid, let alone two, but what his father has just told him about Loki has gotten his mind racing.

_ Expelled _ . 

Loki has been bullied a lot at his school back in London. He’s sensitive. Unstable. He needs a good role model. He has some strange habits. Some strange...

Here, Odin frowns and pretends to be interested in his emails, but Thor leans forward in his chair, heart beating faster. The only time he’s ever seen Odin this uncomfortable was the one time they’d discussed the final outrage that had led up to his own expulsion. Him and Fandral messing around after lights-out.

_ “There’s nothing wrong with...experimentation. But if you keep on like this, you’re setting yourself on a difficult path. Do you really want to make life harder for yourself?” _

As if it’s a choice.

He knows better than to ask Odin to clarify, but for the first time since the wedding (Thor still being mired in the final disastrous month of his school career in Switzerland and unable to attend) he’s actually curious to meet Loki Laufeyson.

“You could be a good influence on him.” Odin appears to consider. “Or he could be one on you.”

“Yeah, or we’ll both be a bad influence on each other.”

“Do you think it’s a laughing matter?”

Thor shakes his head. “Guess not.”

“Did you finish any of those applications?”

“I started...”

“Started’s not much use, is it?”

“I’ll finish them.”

Thor doesn’t see the point himself. He never even finished his exams, but perhaps his dad plans to bribe his way into University?

_ Something else for me to screw up. _

It’s not that he’s stupid. “Fails to apply himself” has been his school report since Kindy, but that’s not really true either. He’s never had a problem applying himself to the things he loves- perhaps too much. Unfortunately surfing and martial arts and partying don’t have any place in Odin’s plans for him. It cheers him up a little to learn that his new step-brother is as almost as much as a fuck-up as he is himself.

  
  


* * *

_ :So what’s he like? _

_ :Up himself _ Thor texts back.

: :-(  _ Well, you’re only there for a month _

:  _ I’d better hurry up then _

:??

_ :I think I’m in love. _

There’s a pause of a few minutes, then Fandral replies.

_ :Again? With who? _

_ :Loki _

_ :Mate. You literally always think you’re in love. You just met him. Plus, you’re brothers now? Sicko. _

Thor laughs and tosses his phone aside. If Fandral’s playing the voice of reason, things must be bad. The house is silent- it’s after 2am, but Thor’s too keyed up to sleep. Beyond the huge glass window that forms one whole wall of his room the ocean dances its eternal dance. He’d like to be out there now- the sea would clear his mind as it always does. The physical rigor of carrying the board, of battling out past the breakers, fighting the current to stay in place, and then that sublime moment when your wave comes and for a brief time you let it take you, the power of the ocean working with you instead of against. The surfing has been good for the past few days, what with this storm coming in. It’s been the only good part of the holiday. He can’t really count Loki Laufeyson’s arrival in his life as  _ good _ . It’s too mild a word for what he’s feeling. 

Fandral’s right, it’s kind of fucked up, even if they’re strangers to each other, not linked by blood or anything else, but maybe that’s a part of it? The struggle against the tide before you let go and fly is almost the best part.

_ Except he clearly hates you. _

There is that, and yet he’s fallen (as he often does) straight away, and completely.

_ Fandral’s right- it’ll be like Jane all over again, and telling yourself it’s different doesn’t mean it is. _

But although he’s less simple than he likes to let on, he’s not so very complicated either. All he knows is that the moment he set his eyes on the glaring young man with the long black hair he wanted him.

_ So what is it? _ The phantom Fandral asks in his mind.  _ Why him? _

He’s hot as hell- there’s that. His height, and the grace of his movements.Those endless legs and that long, elegant blade of a nose. He’s not conventionally hot as Thor is himself, but there’s something about the way his features come together that’s more than the sum of its parts. Even the hostility in those cold blue eyes gets Thor’s heart thudding faster. There’s something ferocious about Loki along with that fragile quality. He might shatter apart at any second, but you’d cut yourself to ribbons on those sharp edges. He intimidates Thor, and that isn’t something he’s used to.

Like Thor, Loki refuses to walk the path he’s been set on. He’s hostile to Thor and Odin far past the point of rudeness, and yet instead of pissing Thor off it excites him. With his looks and his money and his easy charmThor’s used to getting his way with people- especially those his own age. He sets the pace and they try to keep up, falling over each other to win his attention. Even clever Jane Foster had been like that a little, blushing and stammering when she was around him. If he speaks to  _ Loki, _ the guy stares at him as though he’s a piece of furniture trying to strike up conversation. Baffled and disdainful. 

Loki doesn’t even deign to argue with Odin. He just watches him, one eyebrow raised as he flatters and cajoles, and rarely- because he’s still trying to impress Frigga after all- stalks out of the room to yell at some unlucky underling on the phone instead.

When this happens, Loki merely shakes his head and goes back to his book. Even Thor’s kind of scared of his dad when he gets going, but Loki’s solid ice all the way down to his heart.

Everything about Loki is so calculated and rigid and controlled that it sets Thor’s mind whirling. What would it take to break through that permafrost?

_ I’d like to thaw his Popsicle. _

Thor laughs to himself. It doesn’t seem likely he’ll succeed, but ever since he got chucked out of school his dad has been saying he needs a project.

* * *

He doesn’t expect Loki to agree to go to the beach hut, and he certainly doesn’t expect him to tolerate Thor’s flirting. At first he seems immune to it- even when Thor resorts to taking off his shirt Loki barely reacts.

_ But he did react. _

Thor’s the last to deny that he’s vain, but he works hard on his body, and he knows the effect it can have. He’s an expert in reading the signals. Loki looks away, but crucially he looks back again, and Thor sees where his eyes go and feels his hope (and some baser emotion) start to grow. Gradually Loki appears to unwind. He smiles more, laughs grudgingly at some of Thor’s jokes, and his eyes come back again and again, lighting on Thor’s legs, his chest, the casual loll of his prick in his shorts, until they reach this moment.

“ _ What if there was a way for us to get along that they’d hate? _ ” 

He’s never felt this nervous making a move before. He wishes he’d smoked less. The weed isn’t calming him, instead it’s drawing a line under his nervousness. His mouth is dry but he’s sweating so much he has to keep wiping the palms of his hands on the legs of his shorts.

“Like what?” Loki asks.

He looks as calm and as cool as ever. His skin seems to glow in the dim, close air of the cabin.

_ Now or never, Odinson. _

Thor leans in and kisses Loki. He feels him jolt a little in shock, but he doesn’t pull away. His lips are smooth and cool, almost as soft as a woman’s mouth, although the comparative roughness of his skin excites Thor as it always does. Kissing Jane (and all those girls before her) was like kissing some marvelous creature made of velvet. Kissing men is different- not that he’s had that much experience. It’s almost a chaste kiss, tender and almost cautious, Loki’s mouth barely opening to his own.

_ Brotherly. _

And yet it sets Thor’s heart tripping like it’s going to explode. When he pulls back Loki’s staring at him, blue eyes wide. For the first time he looks uncertain- the mask of control finally dropped. 

“Loki?”

Loki’s hand comes up to tug fretfully at his hair, winding a tangled black lock around his finger. He frowns down at the floor. The silence stretches out. Even the storm seems to hold its breath.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Thor begins. “I should have asked.”

Loki shakes his head. “No, don’t be it was good.” He flushes. “I mean....” He trails off.

Thor grins. It pleases him to see the dismissive, self-possessed Loki squirm. And turns him on, if he’s honest. His clipped British voice has lost all its calm and authority.

He reaches out and runs a finger down Loki’s cheek. Loki blinks but doesn’t pull away.

“Good? Reckon we can do better than good. If you want to?”

Loki nods.

He tugs at Loki’s shirt, and Loki lifts his arms right away to let Thor pull it up over his head. His body is more muscular than Thor imagined. Nothing like his own, but it’s almost a dancer’s body, manly and well-built in a spare, elegant way. His nipples are small and puffy, and Loki gasps when Thor brushes the backs of his curled fingers over one of them, drawing his arms primly around his naked chest.

“You sure you’re alright with this?” Thor asks.

Loki nods. “Sorry. I’ve...” He sighs, pushing his hair back, and mumbles something too soft for Thor to hear. 

“What?”

“I’ve never done this before, alright?”

Thor can hardly believe it. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Loki says. “I had a girlfriend for about a week when I was sixteen. We got off a couple of times. Enough for me to know that I wasn’t really into it.” 

“Not into sex, or not into girls?”

“Girls. I don’t know if I’m into sex.” Loki chews his lip. “Shit, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I’m going to cringe myself to death tomorrow.”

“It’s cool,” Thor says. “If you want it never to have happened, then it never happened. I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to do. This was just meant to be...” He trails off. He isn’t honestly sure what this is.

“To piss our folks off,” Loki finishes.

Thor shrugs. “Yeah, if you like.”

Loki nods. “I mean, I’m always up for that.”

“And what else are you up for?” Thor asks. Again, it turns him on to see Loki’s eyes drop to the floor. To see that pale skin blush.

“Like I said, we don’t have to do anything. We can smoke another pipe if you want and wait for the storm to pass...”

Loki interrupts Thor by leaning forward and kissing him again. His touch is tentative as he runs his palms up Thor’s chest.  _ Of course he is. He’s never touched anyone like this before in his life.  _ The thought gets his already hard cock throbbing, and it’s all he can do to stop himself from pinning Loki down on the cabin floor and devouring him. He settles for leaning back against the sofa, pulling Loki into his lap so he’s straddling him. He raises his knees so that Loki slides even more snugly against him, smiling as Loki’s eyes widen when he feels Thor’s hard cock pressing against his own.

_ At least he is hard. Even if he doesn’t know what to do with it yet. _

But that can wait. He’s going to take this slow.  _ Perhaps I’m the responsible brother after all? _ A thought which should absolutely _ not _ make him hornier than ever, but which does anyway. It’s a new experience for him to be with a partner who doesn’t act like they’ve done it all and gotten bored of it years ago. The rich kids he usually fucks sure as hell never  _ blush _ , and if there are any gaps in their carnal knowledge they’d never admit it in a million years. Loki is weirdly innocent, and it touches him in some way. 

Loki’s kisses are clumsy, yet hungry, and soon his hips are twitching as he rubs himself against Thor. Thor pushes him gently back. “I’m going to come in my pants if you keep doing that.”

“Sorry.”

Thor laughs. “Don’t be sorry, mate. It’s really fucking good. But I fall asleep ten seconds after I come, and I want this to last a bit longer.”

Loki nods. His lips are dark and swollen from kissing, and his dark hair falls in tangles over his shoulders. He’s as pretty as any girl Thor’s slept with, but manly too, with his strong nose and muscular shoulders. 

“You’re ridiculously hot, you know that?” Thor says.

Loki freezes. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“Make fun? I’m being serious.”

Loki shakes his head. “Nah. You’re hot. Just my luck to get a brother who looks like a bloody model. I’m...well, I’m  _ me _ .”

“Yeah,” says Thor. “You are.” Loki is leaning back slightly against Thor’s raised knees. He looks doubtful when Thor takes his wrists gently and raises his hands to rest on top of his head, but he doesn’t resist.

“Keep them there,” Thor says gently but firmly. He half expects Loki to scoff and climb off his lap, but instead he’s surprised to feel Loki’s cock twitch against his own.

_ So he likes being bossed around. Interesting.  _

He’s always liked to take his time exploring his partner’s bodies. It annoys some of them, but Loki sighs as Thor trails his fingertips down the sensitive undersides of Loki’s arms. He shivers, his skin springing up into gooseflesh, but he keeps his hands where Thor put them. 

“Either you’re really modest or really clueless,” Thor says. “And I don’t reckon it’s modest. No offense.”

Thor cups Loki’s waist. So small.  _ Imagine how it would be to hold while you fucked him. _ Now it’s Thor’s turn to shiver. Loki squirms as Thor traces his navel, then moans as he teases at his hard little nipples.

“You like that? Most guys don’t like having them touched.”

“I...I think I do?” Loki manages.

Thor grins. “How about this?”

He cranes up to suck on Loki’s nipple, teasing the tip of it with his tongue. Loki’s hands close around the back of his head.

“Oh,  _ Thor. _ ”

He has to bite down on his lip to stop himself from coming at the sound of his name in that tone. Loki’s weight is pinning his cock down and the small friction that there is is almost enough to push him over the edge. He knows he’s not going to hold out much longer.

“Get up on the couch,” He tells Loki. “No wait, take off your shorts.”

Loki stands up, then pauses with his thumbs tucked into his waistband.    
Thor laughs, and clambers a little woozily to his own feet. “Shy?”

Loki glares, but he doesn’t deny it. 

“Will you feel better if I go first?”

Loki nods slowly, his eyes dropping hungrily to Thor’s cock.

_ I reckon you could be a dirty little fucker given half the chance, Loki Laufeyson _ .  _ Maybe even worse than me _ , Thor thinks. He’s used to admiring looks, but he still relishes the way Loki’s eyes widen as he pushes down his board shorts. Even Fandral had raised an eyebrow at Thor’s cock. He supposes Loki doesn’t have anything to compare with, but from the way his mouth falls open slightly Thor thinks he’s impressed him. He can’t help preening a little bit.

_ No wonder Jane called you obnoxious. _

Jane called him a lot of things, but Jane isn’t really occupying his attention right now. Thor kicks his shorts away and flops onto the sofa. 

“Now you.”

Loki’s eyes remain fixed on Thor’s cock, opening wider still when he gives it a couple of lazy tugs. There’s something demure about the way he slowly edges his own shorts down over those perfect hip bones. A trail of dark hair leads from his navel down to his prick, which Thor is both annoyed but grudgingly excited to see is slightly bigger than his own.

_ Those fucking scrawny little British guys. Every bloody time! _

As Loki’s shorts drop to the floor his hands move to cover himself, but he stops at the last second, trying for an aura of cool he clearly isn’t feeling. Thor takes pity on him.

“Nice. Come sit.” He pats the sofa next to him. Loki sinks onto it slowly, legs demurely together, a careful six inches between his bare thigh and Thor’s.  _ Like a Princess at a bloody tea party. _

You still OK?” Thor asks. 

Loki nods. “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. Fuck. I’m going to be crap at this.”

Thor laughs. “You don’t have to do anything. Relax a bit, mate. Lean back. Shut your eyes if you want.”

“I’d rather look at you.” Loki seems surprised by his own words, and Thor hurries past the moment before he can say anything he’d regret.

_ Like ‘I love you.’ _

“Can I touch you?”

Loki nods. He leans back, but his body is still tense. Thor snuggles closer and kisses his neck, and then his mouth, until he feels the tightly wound muscles beginning to relax.

“That’s better.”

Loki gasps as Thor’s hand curls gently but insistently around his cock. His eyes flutter to Thor’s own. 

“That good?”

Loki nods slowly, and his legs open a little wider. Thor runs his hand up and down the length of Loki’s cock, his thumb brushing the head, spreading the moisture that wells up from the slit in slow circles.

“ _ Fuck _ , Thor. Can I touch you?”

“In a sec,” Thor says. “But as soon as you do I’m going to be done, and I want you to be done first. Can I suck you?”

“Yeah,” Loki mumbles. 

Thor slides off the sofa and crawls between Loki’s legs, pushing his thighs firmly apart. Loki is clearly embarrassed at the position, but he lets Thor lift his legs until his feet rest on the sofa, his knees wide apart. Undignified, but Thor finds that he likes seeing Loki with his dignity stripped away...along with those shitty city kid clothes.

He leans forward and licks at Loki’s balls, tight and drawn up now with arousal. The scent of Loki’s body is driving him crazy. He’d love to push Loki back deeper into the cushions and uncover that tight little hole, but he senses that it would be too much for the guy to handle right now. Loki’s nails dig into Thor’s scalp as Thor kisses and licks at his balls, and when at last he sucks Loki’s cock into his mouth Loki moans, and pushes himself deeper, his fingers gripping tighter.

“Oh  _ fuck,  _ Thor.”

Thor rumbles a pleased purr and sets to work sucking Loki off using all of his skill. The sensation of the warm slippery flesh in his mouth gets his own cock dripping. Loki pants and moans, his embarrassment forgotten now, calling Thor’s name above the sound of the storm.

Thor feels his cock twitch and then Loki’s cum is filling his mouth, and he’s swallowing it down, his senses filled with it, heat and sweat and sex. He feels almost feral with his need for Loki. He’d like to cover that pale body in bite marks and bruises, To fuck him in the roughest way possible, but when he looks up and meets Loki’s eyes, so blue and so vulnerable, his hunger is replaced by a pure rush of love.

_ Oh, this is going to be bad. _

But later can wait for later. He crawls up onto the sofa to lie next to Loki, taking his long, thin hand in his own, and wrapping it around his cock, showing him how to do it. When Loki bends his head to touch his lips to the head, it’s all over. 

Thor wipes himself off with his T-shirt, then pulls Loki into his arms.

“That was...”

“That was something.” Thor says. He yawns, and stretches. “G’night.”

“You’re really going to sleep?” Some of Loki’s normal annoyance has returned and it amuses Thor. That whole Ice Princess thing he has going on only makes his melting sexier.

“I warned you.”

Loki sits up, grabbing for his shorts.

“What time do you think it is?”

“Nap time,” Thor says.

Loki looks at him. Thor knows that look. The ‘we should talk about this’ look.  _ But not now _ . He closes his eyes and makes a show of settling back into the dusty cushions, and after a while he doesn't need to fake it anymore.

When he wakes up the storm has departed, and so has Loki.


	3. Chapter 3

_ I can’t believe he actually fell asleep.  _

The tail end of the storm whips sea spray into Loki’s face. His hair is tangled and sticky with saltwater. The waves still plunge and rear up the beach, foamy and wild, the water an eerie blue-green that seems to glow. His trainers sink into the wet sand, cold water soaking his feet, but the rain that falls now is warm- more like mist than the angry torrent that has driven everyone but him away from the beach. It washes the salt from his hair, stinging his eyes. When he licks his lips-bruised and swollen from Thor’s kisses- he tastes peppermint and sea salt. The taste of the storm, and of Thor.

_ My brother. _

What they just did together was fucked up if you believe it’s true that they’re really brothers now....but isn’t that part of what excites him?

It’ll piss their parents off if they ever find out,  _ that’s _ for sure. Thor couldn’t have come up with a better way to drive the two of them insane. Loki grins, but his smile fades quickly.  _ Is that all it is? Part boredom, part fucked up prank? _

“Yes,” he says aloud. Thor’s the most attractive guy he’s ever _seen_ in the flesh let alone touched, and he still can’t quite believe what just happened between them, but he’s not going to make an idiot of himself again. Give his heart to some straight guy who might be flattered by the attention in the short-term, but turns nasty if they suspect actual feelings might be involved. Loki doesn’t think Thor seems like the type to kick his head in if he figures out Loki’s actually into lads and not just messing around- it’s all just a game for him; And that’s the problem.

_ Plus, he’s so fucking arrogant. Already snoring like a pig while I’m still putting my clothes on. Acting like he knows it all. Ordering me around. _

Loki feels a twitch in his groin.  _ Fuck _ . The hard, teasing look in those blue eyes when he’d told him to put his hands on his head. Loki had felt a great hot wave of need and anger that had almost pushed him over the edge. It pisses him off that he should be so easy to turn into...what?  _ A toy, for the rich boy’s amusement? _ He grimaces as he feels himself getting hard all over again.

_ If he wants to play this game with me I have to remember that that’s what it is- just a game. Something to make this stupid holiday go by quicker, and maybe show mum that she doesn’t always get to have her own way. _

The town too is empty, streets scoured clear of people. Rain pools in the gutters, the neon of the gaudy signs for ice cream and souvenirs made soft and beautiful. The sticky smell of candy floss and fried dough has been driven off by the sea wind, and the world feels freshly made. Loki feels freshly made. His skin tingles everywhere Thor touched him as though it’s been scoured off and regrown.

_ If only this was the world now. Everyone gone but me and him. We’d live in that shack on the edge of the ocean. He’d teach me to swim like he does. Maybe to catch fish. He’d teach me everything. _

But this is exactly the type of thought that leads to trouble, and Loki hurries back to the over-sized holiday house before he can come up with any more of them. The air conditioning inside makes him shiver, and his mum’s reception is even chillier.

“Where were the two of you? We were worried sick? We called and called.”

Loki shrugs. “Reception’s bad. We’re fine.”

“Where’s Thor?”

“Down on the beach. He’ll be back soon.”

“The beach?”

“Odin has this hut thingy. Did he not tell you?”

“I’m not having this, Loki. I’m not having you spoil this for everyone, when your dad is trying so hard.”

It seems like she’s waiting.  _ He’s not my dad!  _ A few hours ago he’d have risen to her challenge, but now he only smiles. “Sorry. I should have checked my phone, but I got distracted. We actually had a really good time.”

Her astonishment is almost sweeter than the scent that still clings to his skin when he pulls off his sodden clothes and flops onto his bed. 

_ Peppermint and sea salt. _

* * *

“Did you put your sun cream on? You burn so easily.”

“ _ Mum _ ,” Loki protests. “I’m Seventeen, not Seven.”

“Just checking! I don’t want to hear any complaints if you fry yourself.”

“Got to protect that delicate pommy complexion,” Thor says, with a wink.

“You’re one to talk,” rumbles Odin. “Obsessed with tanning, all these ‘beach bum’ friends of his. Just because you don’t burn, it doesn’t mean you’re not exposing yourself to cancer.”

Thor rolls his eyes. “Cheerful topic for family fun day.”

Odin gives Thor a withering look. “You might be taller than me, but you still act like a child at times.”

“That makes two of them,” Frigga adds, crisply. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she cranes her neck impatiently towards the garage where Odin’s driver is fetching the car.

Loki feels the familiar frustration rising up within him.  _ A few more months and you’ll be eighteen and out of here. _ But has any year ever seemed longer?

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” Thor says. “Did you get the back of your neck? It’s easy to miss.”

Loki is startled to realise Thor’s talking to him.

“I think so,” he says, irritably.

Thor shrugs. “It’s always those bits you can’t reach that burn. Here.” He fishes in his backpack and pulls out a sand-furred tube of cream. 

“Turn around.” 

“Turn around?”

“Let me get your neck.”

The tube wheezes asthmatically as Thor squeezes lotion into his palm.

“Lift your hair up.”

_ Is he serious? _

But he finds himself lifting the hank of his tied back hair, and bending his neck.  _ All the better to hide how red my bloody face is. _

But maybe it’s a good thing? This has to be for the benefit of their parents after all. Some malicious compliance to fuck with thier heads. Revenge for dragging the two of them to the fun fair like they were actual children. That’s all it is. All it can be. 

He still jumps when Thor’s cool, slippery fingers touch his skin. Thor takes his time, his hand closing around the nape of Loki’s neck, his thumb stroking the sensitive spot behind his jaw, so that Loki’s eyes flutter closed in spite of himself.

Thor had said almost nothing to him the evening before. He’d strolled in about an hour after Loki, and had spent most of the evening in his room. At dinner they’d barely exchanged a look. Loki had lain awake half the night trying to decide whether or not to knock on his door. Their rooms are just down the corridor from each other. It was embarrassment more than common sense that had kept him away. He could kick himself for telling Thor he’d never done it before.

_ Maybe now he’s had some fun he’ll pretend it didn’t happen? _

But now Thor’s fingers are pushing underneath Loki’s collar, squeezing and rubbing, slow, delicious circles on his shoulders. He can feel the goosebumps rising on his arms, and has to step away from Thor before anything else rises along with it. 

“Cheers.”

“You’re welcome, little brother.” The grin Thor gives him is wicked.

_ So pleased with his own daring _ . And yet in spite of himself Loki’s both impressed and ridiculously turned on. He glances towards Odin and his mum to see what they make of it.

Odin is still staring towards the garage, but Loki notes the small frown knotting his mum’s brow- the way she glances at Thor as though seeing him for the first time- perhaps not just as Odin’s troublesome son, but as a young man in his own right. The kind of young man her own troublesome son has gotten himself in bonus trouble with before.

_ Good. She wanted us to get along. Let’s see how it works out for her. _

* * *

The car smells new and expensive, which it probably is. The presence of the driver makes Loki uncomfortable.  _ Can’t Odin drive his own car? _ He wonders if it makes his mum uncomfortable. Once, she’d been an employee herself. Once he would have been able to ask her. There wasn’t much that she didn't understand, his mum. She’d stuck by him through all of the shit with his school and the police. Nowadays she bites his head off for even daring to think things might not be perfect with her new husband.

_ If you’d just give him a chance. _

But how can he? Knowing that his mum would always be in his corner was about all he had left, but he lost that when she married Odin. Perhaps if he’d been a different sort of man he could have been happy that she has someone, but not Odin. Odin’s too old, too rich, too used to getting his own way. He holds all the power. His mum’s no idiot, so Loki can’t understand it. Every bribe Odin tries to offer- the first class seats on the flight over, the ridiculous mansion they’re staying in- only makes Loki more suspicious. Does he think people can be bought? If so, what else does he think is up for sale? He’d expected Thor to be exactly the same....but now he isn’t so sure. Really, he doesn’t know what to think.  _ Then stop thinking with your dick. _ Which is easier said than done.

Like the holiday home, the car is a gleaming, hulk with two rows of spotless leather seats behind the driver. Odin and Frigga settle into the first row, and Thor hops into the back before the driver can make his way round to open the door for him. Loki follows his lead, bemused. He guesses Thor’s one of those rich kids embarrassed by his own wealth. It’d explain the low-key trustafarian thing he has going on.

“How long are we looking at?” Odin asks.

“Traffic’s heavy,” says the driver. “Maybe a half hour.”

“Told you we should have set off earlier,” Odin rumbles.

Frigga’s tone is unnaturally bright. “Sorry love. At least the view will be nice. Doesn’t the sea look pretty today?”

“It’s the sand stirred up by the storm,” Thor says quickly, as though heading his father off. “It changes the colour of the water.”

“My son, the Marine Biologist,” says Odin. “If only.”

“You’re ever so clever to know how to surf,” says Frigga as the car pulls out through the gates. Her tone is artificially bright, and Loki can’t help but feel embarrassed for her, and  _ slightly _ guilty. She’s trying so bloody hard to make this work. “Maybe you can teach Loki?”

Thor gives him another of those wicked looks. “I reckon. He seems like a quick learner.”

Loki shakes his head, and Thor makes his eyes go wide.

_ What? _

Loki’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out to squint at the screen. The message is from Thor.

**:Not turning shy on me?**

**:You fell *asleep* on me..**. he texts back.

Thor chuckles, his thumbs flying over his phone.

**:Sorry. Warned you. Why are you sitting all the way over there? Move closer.**

Loki glances up at Thor, who softly pats the seat next to him.

**:They’ll notice** , he texts back.

**:Nah they won’t. Besides, I thought you wanted to piss them off? Is that moody rebel thing just a pose?**

Loki stuffs his phone back in his pocket, trying to concentrate on the ocean that whips by the window beyond the guardrail, but Thor kicks gently at his foot. It’d be easier to ignore if Thor’s legs weren’t quite so muscular- just like the legs of the rugby lads he could never keep his eyes off back home, only better, because instead of pasty and white they’re tanned gold. The hair on them is gold too, and it tangles with his own as Thor’s calf rubs teasingly against his. Thor’s height means he has to sit with his legs wide apart, and Loki finds his eyes drawn unwillingly to those spread thighs as though hypnotised. In spite of himself he slides closer to Thor on the leather seat. His thigh now rests against Thor’s, their arms just brushing. He’s forgotten about their parents, the car, the whole world. He can all but imagine little flickers of lighting sparking between the two of them.  _ Do you feel it too? _ His mouth is dry with nervousness and a bigger feeling that he doesn’t care to acknowledge.

He takes a sharp breath in as he feels Thor’s hand slide between his back and the seat. He glances at Thor, but he’s staring straight ahead, seemingly listening to the driver who’s telling Loki’s mum some story about the history of the islands off the shore.

Even as Thor’s fingers squirm down under the waistband of Loki’s shorts, Thor keeps up his poker face. Loki’s frozen, torn between the urge to pull away before someone catches an eyeful in the rearview mirror, and the feeling that he’ll die if Thor stops touching him.

Thor’s typing on his phone again with his free hand, and Loki’s own buzzes in his pocket.

**:This ok?**

**“What if they see?**

**:No one can see. We’re too close together :D**

Loki supposes that much is true. He can hide Thor’s arm behind his own easily enough.

**:I can stop?** Thor texts.

**:No**

Thor flashes him another of those devastating smiles.

**:Couldn’t wait any longer. You felt so good. Next time we go to the beach you’re getting lotion *everywhere*.**

Loki fidgets in his seat. The car feels hot, suddenly in spite of the air con. Loki bites his lip, trying to stay composed as Thor’s hand squirms downwards, one of his fingers teasing at the top of Loki’s crack. Loki looks helplessly at Thor, but he’s looking out his own window again now as though deep in thought. Thor’s hand shoves lower still, pulling Loki’s shorts down over his right hip. Are they still sitting close enough that no one will notice anything wrong if they glance back here? Maybe not, but the last thing on his mind is telling Thor to stop- in fact he shifts his weight to the left a little to make Thor’s access even easier. Now Thor’s fingers pry Loki’s buttocks apart, one of them curling up, to tease at the sensitive, helpless flesh of his hole. His heart is thumping so hard all the beats seem to run into each other. No one’s ever touched him there before, but fuck, he’s fantasised about it during those long, lonely nights. It’s obscene that Thor should be doing this here and now, and hotter than hell. 

**:That good?**

Loki nods, swallowing. He closes his eyes, and tries not to squirm. 

Thor doesn’t push any further, but doesn’t relent either. Instead he strokes agonisingly pleasurable circles round and round Loki’s hole as the car crawls through the heavy beach traffic. He has to bite down on His lip to stay quiet, and his cock is so hard it’s aching. It’s almost a relief when his phone buzzes again.

**:So....should I be a gentleman, or fingerfuck you in the back of my dad’s car?**

Loki makes a strangled noise that he manages to turn into a cough, and Thor laughs quietly to himself. His hand withdraws, with a fond final squeeze.

**:Bastard** , Loki texts, furiously.

**:Like I can’t see your hard-on mate. Nah, keep your legs open. Let me look.**

_ I can’t believe I’m doing this _ . But it appears he  _ is _ doing this. Being told what to do by Thor has pushed his buttons just like it did yesterday. 

Thor’s clearly a quick learner too. 

* * *

The car finally drops them off on the edge of a crowded plaza on the seafront. Loki’s T-shirt clings to his sweat-slicked skin as though he’s jogged here, and he’s glad of the cool ocean breeze. Thor looks so completely unruffled that Loki could punch him. Not that that’s exactly top of the list of things he wants to do to Thor right now. Every time he looks at him he pictures how he was in the beach hut yesterday. How it felt to touch that perfect body. What it was like to spread his legs for Thor, to feel his mouth on his cock. Thankfully he’s gotten himself a little more under control physically, but his balls still ache and he feels jittery with frustration and adrenalin.

“This looks nice, doesn’t it?” Frigga is saying. “You boys can go on some rides. Maybe there’s an arcade?”

_ Since when have I ever shown any interest in hanging out in arcades? _ He doubts if there even is one. It’s certainly a little more upmarket than the seaside towns he’s used to. Seagulls nicking your chips, ancient rattling waltzers helmed by glowering lads with muscles and blotchy tattoos. Not that he objects to muscles and tattoos. This place is a sanitised version. The shops and restaurants that line the shore are upmarket, and even the funfair built out on the long wooden pier seems more Disneyland than Blackpool.

“Crowded,” Odin says.

“It’s a summer at the beach,” Thor says. “It’s going to be crowded.”

Odin frowns at him, clearly torn between pleasure that Thor’s taking his new step mother’s side for a change, and annoyance at being argued with.

“Hot too,” Odin says. “What would you say to a cool drink, my dear? It’s not too early, is it?”

The appeasing smile Frigga gives Odin sickens Loki.

“That sounds lovely. Will you boys be alright on your own?”

_ What a subtle way to tell us to get lost, mum. _

“I reckon we’ll find something to do,” says Thor, giving Loki a devilish glance.

He’s so sure of himself that Loki’s tempted to walk off in the opposite direction and lose himself in the crowd, but what’s the point? They’re going to be back under the same roof tonight, and as good as he is at putting up a sub-zero cold front, even he has his limits. If Thor beckons, he knows he’ll come running. Pointless to pretend otherwise. The two of them start to walk along the pier side by side. He sees girls glance towards the two of them- mostly Thor.  _ Bet he loves the attention. Does he think I’m like that? Pretty pathetic, really. _

Perhaps Thor senses his mood, because he gives his hand a quick squeeze. 

“I’m glad you’re not pissed with me. I thought you were last night.”

“Why?”

Thor shrugs. “I woke up and you’d gone.”

“Fuck off, what was I meant to do? Sit there fanning your brow until you’d had your bloody nap?”

Thor winces. “Yeah, sorry. It’s just...you were really good. It felt so good, I was so relaxed, and I haven’t been relaxed in a long time.”

Loki makes a skeptical noise. “You seem pretty relaxed all the time.”

“You sound like dad.”

“Don’t.”

“Looks can be deceiving, says Thor. “Look at you. All buttoned up on the outside...” He trails off, and stops, grabbing Loki’s wrist and pulling him to a halt.

“I almost came to your room last night.”

“I almost came to yours,” Loki admits, grudgingly. “I just....”

“Thought it might have just been some weird thing, and I was embarrassed it had happened?” Thor finishes. “Yeah, me too.”

“I mean, it’s definitely a weird thing,” Loki says.

Thor laughs. “We’re a pair of sickos.”

“Runs in the family,” Loki says.

Thor looks surprised for a second. _ Is he blushing? _ It does Loki’s heart good to see him drop the cocky alpha male act.

“Fuck me, Loki.”

Any rejoinder to that would be too obvious, so Loki keeps on walking, letting Thor fall into step with him again. The heat beats up from the wooden boards of the boardwalk. Slices of ocean glitter far below in the cracks between them. Something of the excitement in the screams of the crowds riding the coasters and the Ferris Wheel, and the loud, pulsing fairground music which is the same all the world over transfers itself to Loki, and it’s like he can feel some hard shell within himself start to fracture.

_ I haven’t been so relaxed in a long time _ .

Happiness? Is this what it was like? It’s been a long time for him too. He can feel the cynical, neurotic part of himself poised to attack.  _ It can’t last _ .  _ You’re setting yourself up for a fall.  _ But on such a bright, perfect day, and with Thor walking beside him it’s easy to push those thoughts aside.

“Want a corn dog?” Thor asks.

“Is that some revolting Australian slang?” Loki asks.

“Nah, it’s some revolting American food. I’ve never had one before.”

“Neither have I.”

“My treat then,” Thor says. “Like a date, isn’t it?” He turns away before Loki can come up with a reply.

_ Trust me; My first date and it’s with my adopted brother. _

The corn dogs taste almost as obscene as they look. 

_ Ugh, sweet. Why is everything here sweet?  _

But it tastes how fairground food should, oily and sugary and artificial. They eat them perched on a bench on the edge of the pier, hip to hip again. When the sea breeze whips Loki’s hair over his face, Thor pushes it back gently, tracing his thumb quickly over Loki’s chin. Loki feels his desire rising up again, but it’s less urgent now. What they’re doing might be screwed up, but he suspects that under the cocky veneer, Thor’s almost as uncertain as he is himself, and it makes this feel safer somehow.

“Well, that was horrible. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome," says Thor.  “What now?” 

“Roller-coaster time.” Loki replies, dropping the oily stick into the bin.

“Roller-coasters?” Thor says, licking his fingers.

“That big one,” Loki points. “Bet you can see for miles from the top.”

Thor squints up, and then up some more. “That one? Really?”

Now it’s Loki’s turn to grin. “Not scared, are you?”

“Uhhhh..”

“Are you serious? You? The surfer?”

“How is surfing the same as going on that thing?”

“It’s not,” Loki says. “It’s a million times more dangerous. A roller-coaster is designed to be safe. You’re not going to drown to get chewed up by a shark going on a roller coaster.”

“Yeah, but you don’t usually surf upside down, seventy feet above the cold hard, ground.”

“Amateur,” Loki says.

Thor throws up his hands. “Fine! You win. But if I go on that death trap, then you have to do something for me.”

“What?” Loki asks, suspiciously. “I already told you, I don’t want to learn how to surf.”

Thor leans in and kisses him. It’s over almost before he realises it’s happening, but it still leaves him weak with need.

“Nah. Not surfing.”

“What then?”

Thor heaves himself to his feet, and holds out his hand to Loki. “If I survive this bloody death trap you’ll find out.”


	4. Chapter 4

Loki’s saying something about magnetic brakes and G-forces, but all Thor can concentrate on is the ground, which is vanishing at an alarming rate as the coaster rattles up the drop hill.  _ Is all that clanking normal? _

He assumes it must be. Loki would know- Apparently. The pier looks like something made of lolly sticks by a child, the people reduced to multi-colored specks. He can see the unlovely roofs and back alleys of the fancy shops and restaurants, a whole secret world hidden behind the bland, wealthy facade.

“Hey.” Loki gives his arm a nudge. “Stop looking down.”

“I can’t.”

Loki peers at him. “Are you alright? You’ve gone all grey.”

“Yup,” Thor says, tightly.  _ A bit late if I’m not. _

“It’s safe,” Loki says firmly. Brand new coaster, this. One of the first drop coasters built in the US. And besides, it’ll be over soon.” He smirks. “One way or another.”

Thor groans.

They’re in the second row of seats, and the view past the head of the girl in front when they reach the top of the drop hill makes Thor’s stomach lurch. No need to look down to turn his blood to ice- he swears he can see the curvature of the horizon. The coaster hangs there, poised between the sky and the earth, far, far below. It’s probably very thrilling if you’re not about to barf corn dog all over your own lap. He tries shutting his eyes, but that makes it worse somehow.

“Thor?”

He glances at Loki.

“It’s safe. I promise.” 

And the roller coaster is plunging downwards. He feels himself rising up in his seat, momentarily weightless, and his stomach seems to fly up into his throat, and he’s grabbing at Loki, and Loki’s grabbing at him, and the two of them are laughing like idiots, the wind whipping away their screams as the coaster hurtles through the air, wild flashes of ocean and sky and promenade blurring together.

_ Fuck it’s like magic! Like flying! _

His legs are wobbling when they climb out of the car, and his heart is tripping like it’s about to burst. 

“Let’s do it again,” he says to Loki as they stagger through the exit turnstile, and Loki’s cool enough not to say ‘I told you so.’

They ride twice more before the line grows too long, swelled with the afternoon crowds.

“What next?” Loki asks. “Your turn to pick. Maybe something a little less intense” His hair is tangled by the sea wind whipping through it, and his eyes sparkle.

_ You’re beautiful _ , he barely stops himself from saying. The last time he’d paid Loki a similar compliment he’d thought Thor was taking the piss. He’s determined to do what he can to keep hold of this Loki, temporarily out of the shadow of whatever black cloud seems to follow him round. _ Did I do that? Does he really like spending time with me? _

He’d been half-kidding when he’d called today’s adventure a date, but it’s starting to feel like one.  _ And Loki still has his promise to keep; You have to do something for me _ . But Thor intends to let that promise gather interest a while longer. He thinks of Loki in the car on the way here again, so tense, but so needy. The look on his face when Thor’s fingers had found that most sensitive spot. He hadn’t been planning on doing that. It was insanely risky...but he hadn’t been able to hold back. Tormenting Loki had been too much fun. It’s a power trip that knocks riding the ocean flat.  _ What would it be like to fuck him? To see his face as I pushed inside him? Would he even want me to? _

Thor suspects that he intends to find out.  _ And if he loved me too _ ...

“Thor?”

He blinks at Loki.

“You spaced out.”

“I was thinking. About you.”

Loki looks startled. “What were you thinking?”

“Maybe I’ll show you.” He winks, trying for his usual thoughtless confidence. “Tonight.”

The power he feels as Loki flushes and looks away feels more normal. He’s used to this, after all. Other people succumbing to his cocky himbo act. Safe.

_ It’s safe, I promise. _

The intensity of what he felt touching Loki- what he feels right now with those cold blue eyes looking at him so uncertainly- is  _ not  _ safe. Loki’s obvious motivation is to get revenge on their parents, which Thor is down with. He’s also clearly more than ready to have his cherry popped with someone-modesty aside-as hot as Thor. To assume there could be anything more between them than that is madness. If a control freak like Loki figures out there’s any real emotion behind what they’re doing, surely he’ll throw up that wall of permafrost again? If Thor slips up and says anything dumb, then it’ll be over before it’s begun. Not to mention the fact that their parents got married a few months back.

What if they’d met by chance in some London bar? Everything could have been so different. He knows he ought to keep this as what it is- a weird summer fling to make shitty circumstances more bearable for the pair of them, but the romantic in him just can’t do it. 

“Other people catch clap, you catch feelings,” Fandral told him once. It’s never happened with a guy before though. He almost wishes this was more like it had been with Fandral- just some fun to make life less boring for a while. _ It’ll cool off. It did with Jane. With all the others. _ But has it ever been like this before?

“Thor? Did that roller coaster shake something loose in your head?”

That clipped British voice jolts him out of his thoughts. “Sorry. You want to try some of those midway games?”

“If it’s anything like the fairs back home they’re all rigged so you lose,” says Loki.

“Yeah,” says Thor. “But the fun is in playing.”

He smiles to himself. Cosmic advice from the universe or just an excuse to keep on doing what he wants? Perhaps there’s not much difference between the two.

* * *

“You were right, it’s rigged,” Thor says, disgusted.

The stringy bloke running the rifle game gives him a dirty look.  _ Look away, mate. We both know it’s true. _

“Not  _ that _ rigged,” Loki says. “Here, let me have a go.”

“Dollar for two shots, five bucks for fifteen,” says the carny. His tone is jaunty, but his eyes are as flat as those of the huge plush animals that dangle from the roof of the tent like hanging victims.

“Which one is a fiver?” Loki asks Thor as he fishes his wallet out of his pocket. “This American money all looks the same to me.” 

Thor feels a pleasant shiver as their fingers brush. He’s enjoying this day way more than he thought he would, but he’s impatient to have more of Loki. He wishes they were back in the beach hut, alone.

He hands over the money, and Loki bends over to squint through the sight of the grimy rifle attached to the booth.

“How many was it you hit again?” he asks Thor. “Nice round number, I remember.”

“Yup, zero, very funny.” Thor replies. 

How he’d  _ love _ to give that tight arse a swat.  _ To start with _ . Instead he moves behind Loki, his hip just brushing Loki’s arse. The carny gives him a look, but doesn’t say anything. One of the many benefits of the hours he puts in at the gym is that only real psychos want to fight him. Loki shifts his feet, but doesn’t move away.

“Aim high and squeeze the trigger,” Thor says.

Loki snorts. “Thanks for the advice, Captain Zero.”

He takes in a breath and holds it as he starts to shoot. The first shot pings off the side of the metal target, and Loki adjusts his aim.

“Well, you already did better than me.”

Loki doesn’t say a word. The next pellet hits the bullseye dead center, ringing the bell above the booth and setting the lights flashing.

“Lucky shot,” Thor says.

“Maybe.”

When the bell rings a second time, and then a third and a fourth, people in the ambling crowd begin to stop to watch. By the time Loki’s hit his tenth bullseye, some of them are cheering. The eleventh clips the edge of the target, but after that he’s back on track, and rings the bell another four times.

Loki straightens up and pushes his hair back, looking half embarrassed, half smug.

“Nice going, Annie Oakley!” Some old guy calls from the crowd. 

Loki shakes his head. “Annie who?”

“No clue,” Thor says. “But that was pretty bloody cool.”

“It’s still rigged,” Loki says. “Sometimes they set it so you can win to get other people to play.”

“Or you’re just good at something,” Thor says.

“Well...”

“Don’t be so fucking British.”

“What, I should boast about winning a kid’s fairground game?” Loki says.

“Why not? I think it’s pretty amazing. I think  _ you’re _ pretty amazing.” He can’t help adding.

“You guys going to pick a prize or what?” 

Thor’s glad for the carny’s interruption, no matter how much of a prick he’s being. He knows that look on the guy’s face.  _ Yeah, it’s what you think, mate.  _ He could say _. I’m going to take him home and if I’m lucky fuck him, and I don’t give a shit what small-minded little cunts like you think about it. _

But why bother?

It seems like Loki’s picked up on it too, because the look he gives the carny as he points at the hugest, most obnoxious rainbow unicorn is pure malevolence. The lightness in his eyes is gone too.

“That one.” He all but flutters his eyelashes at Thor. “You can carry it, babe.”

The carny mutters something under his breath, and all but throws the unicorn at them.

“In the UK, a fag is something you smoke,” Loki remarks as they amble away. 

“Don’t mind that stupid bogan. He’s just pissed off you beat his bloody game.”

“I’ve heard worse,” Loki says. He laughs, but Thor sees the tenseness in his shoulders and suppresses a brief but powerful urge to go back and rearrange the carny’s face for him.

“You’re worth a hundred of him,” Thor says. “You can’t let it get to you.”

“Yeah I can,” Loki says. He sighs. “You go all the way round the world and the same arseholes are there waiting for you. It never gets any better.”

“Not everyone’s like that.” Thor says, limply. He’s good at having feelings, but not so much at expressing them.

Loki grants him a half-smile. “I suppose not. Anyway,” he flicks the unicorn’s drooping horn. “It was worth it just to see you carrying  _ him _ .”

“It’s a him?” Thor adjusts the ridiculous floppy body in his grasp. The stuffed animal is so huge that its feet drag along the ground unless he wraps both arms around it, like they’re dancing drunkenly.

“Well it’ll be worth carrying  _ him _ just to see the expression on dad’s face when we have to try to fit it in the car.

Loki snorts a laugh.

“Plus,” Thor continues, “you still owe me  _ something _ , and making me drag this bloody thing around the fairground is motivating me to think of something creative. I was going to be nice too,” he adds.

“Nice like...like earlier, in the car?” Loki asks, haltingly.

“I’m coming around to how pale you Poms are,” Thor says. “It makes it so easy to see when you blush. And that  _ was _ nice. I know you thought so.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” 

Loki can’t look at him as he admits it, and for some reason that gets Thor turned on. He’s such a weird combination of hardness and innocence, this spiky Brit. Aloof and superior one second, then stammering and blushing the next. 

“I should have come to your room last night,” he says.

“Tonight...” Loki says. He sounds almost shy.

“If you want me.”

Loki pushes his hair back, and sighs. “Yeah. I want you.”

“Fuck,” says Thor, shaking his head.

“What? You don’t want to? I mean, we don’t have to...”

“No,” Thor cuts in. “I was just thinking what a long day it’s going to be. A long evening. Having to sit through another one of those endless bloody dinners.”

Loki grimaces. “I hate them too. You can tell they’re just waiting to get rid of us.”

“Yuck. Thanks for that mental image.”

“Yeah. But at the same time they’re so determined to force us together.”

Thor raises an eyebrow and Loki laughs. “Well, we figured out a way to win that one. Perhaps dinner tonight won’t be so bad, with the way things are.”

“And how are things, Loki Laufeyson?” He stops, and Loki stops too. “What should I do with you when I get you to myself?”

Loki chews at his lip. His eyes narrow, then flick up to meet Thor’s gaze. “Whatever you want, big brother.”

_ Holy shit. _ There’s no way Thor can wait any longer, if Loki’s going to talk like that.

“Hey, come with me.” He bundles the unicorn under his arm as best he can and grabs the startled Loki’s wrist.

“Where are we going?”

Thor stares around him, looking for inspiration. The beach is too crowded. The alleyways too wide and sunny. There are hotels here where he could conceivably rent them a room, but his dad’s US assistant Hiemdall watches his credit card statements like some all-seeing God ever since the whole New York debacle...then he grins.

“We should get you some real beach clothes. You’re here another month.” 

Loki gives him a quizzical look. “You want to go shopping for clothes? Right now?”

“What I really want is to get you alone in a changing room for ten minutes, but if you’d rather argue...”

* * *

It’s one of those surf shops he wouldn’t want to be caught dead in by any of his mates back home. Two hundred dollar T-shirts, and over designed springsuits for posers who’d barely risk getting them wet, let alone actually surfing in them, but the lighting is dim, the music is loud and the guy behind the counter nodding over his phone disinterested enough for Thor’s purposes. At first he grabs a couple of shirts at random, the ridiculous unicorn watching them from the bench by the changing rooms.

_ Hope someone steals it. _

But there’s something about the idea of picking out Loki’s clothes out that’s kind of turning him on. Jane had tried to play this game with him once he remembers, on a party trip to London, dragging him into some fancy lingerie store, which wasn’t like her at all.

_ What would you like to see me in? _

His honest answer had been ‘nothing,’ and he hadn’t ever figured out why that had made her so pissed off with him. The yawning while she browsed likely hadn’t helped.  _ She was smarter than you, and probably a nicer person than you, but she wasn’t. _ ..she wasn’t Loki. She wasn’t forbidden. She wasn’t a mystery. She wasn’t dangerous like Loki could be for him. Like a huge wave rising to the sky, deadly and glassy. Will you fly with it, or will it crush your bones? But there’s that fragility too. Something broken in Loki that he wants to mend, and protect, and keep safe.  _ My brother. _

He shivers, and shivers again when Loki touches his arm.

“I don’t think I can actually afford any of this stuff, just so you know”

“You can. You’re an Odinson now, remember? But I’m paying today.” Thor says. “Which means I’m picking.”

“I thought we were just going to...” Loki’s eyes cut away to the changing rooms.

“We will,” Thor says. “But mate. Those clothes are tragic.”

Loki stares down at himself for a second, then nods. “I’m not really a summer person.”

“Yeah you are, you just don’t know it yet.”

Loki trails after him while he grabs a bundle of T-shirts. Thin cotton. Loki’s got a decent body. He ought to show it off. And some shorts that look less like you’d wear them for P.E. lessons.

“A bit bright, aren’t they?” Loki asks.

“If by ‘a bit bright,’ you mean they aren’t all black and grey, then yup. I reckon you’d look good in green.”

Loki sighs. “I’ll look like a right prat.”

“You’ll look hot. More so. Come on.” He gives Loki’s arse a squeeze as he hustles him towards the changing room. He’s not sure, but he thinks the sales guy might have fallen asleep.  _ Too high to work in a surf store: Now that’s an achievement. _

The changing room is darker yet, which suits Thor. Loki’s clearly back in shy mode now they’re alone, but the dim lighting makes the space feel intimate and safe. He dumps his armload of clothes on the bench and draws the curtain behind them, pushing Loki back against the mirror, kissing him roughly. Loki’s gasps when Thor’s teeth catch his lip, but he doesn’t seem put off by Thor’s overeager aggression, in fact his hands slip up under his shirt, his nails biting into Thor’s back as he pulls him even tighter against his body. It feels like it did back at the beach cabin- cocooned away from the world. Just the two of them, and the heat from their bodies. His hair tangled with Loki’s, everything narrowed down to their breath and the beating of their hearts. Loki twitches in his arms when Thor shoves his hand down the front of his shorts, and Thor clamps his mouth more tightly to Loki’s own to hush him.  _ Be quiet. We have to be careful. _

Loki’s cock is hard and slick and ready, and he goes limp in his arms as Thor strokes it teasingly. Loki’s too inexperienced and perhaps overwhelmed to reach for Thor, but he doesn’t mind. He almost prefers toying with Loki’s body than being touched himself; Seeing him submit to what Thor wants to do with him. He steps away from Loki, who makes an adorable little noise of regret as Thor withdraws his hand.

“Take your clothes off. Let me see you.”

Loki pulls his shirt up slowly. His skin seems to glow in the darkness. He pauses as if summoning up his courage before hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts and underwear and pushing them down.

“Mmmm, that’s better.” Thor takes his shoulders and turns him around so that they’re both facing the mirror, Thor looking over Loki’s shoulder.

Loki’s looking at the floor, so Thor reaches over his shoulder to take his chin and gently tilt it up. “No,  _ look _ .”

Loki glares at him, but when Thor reaches up underneath his arms to pinch gently at his nipples he practically melts, leaning back into Thor, his bare arse rubbing maddeningly against Thor’s erection.

“That’s better. Just watch. And be quiet.”

He keeps one hand on Loki’s chest, pulling him close, and slides the other down to squeeze his cock again, jerking him off in long, slow strokes, until Loki’s rocking his hips, self-consciousness forgotten as he stares at his own reflection with wide eyes. Thor nips at his shoulder and then the long, pale neck, and Loki moans.

“Quiet, little brother.” Thor moves his hand from Loki’s chest to cover his mouth, curling his fingers inside it as Loki licks and sucks at his fingers. His hand works Loki’s cock faster; there’s nothing leisurely or romantic about this now. It’s fast and dirty and dangerous and exciting in a whole different way Loki’s body is sheened with sweat and his eyes half-closed in pleasure. Thor can tell he’s close to the edge and so he pushes him down onto the bench and drops to his knees, sucking Loki’s cock into his mouth. Loki’s fists close in his hair, painfully, but the pain is good too. He shoves Loki’s legs wide apart, fingers digging deep into the soft flesh, and Loki swears under his breath, but his cock twitches, and he yanks even harder on Thor’s hair, and then he’s cumming in Thor’s mouth, a hot flood that seems to go on and on. Thor’s lightheaded, but he pulls himself to his feet anyway, shoving his own shorts down at the front so that his cock springs free. He doesn’t need to tell Loki what to do. He leans forward and takes Thor in his mouth, the look he gives Thor as he does so vulnerable that Thor almost says something he’ll regret.

_ I think I’m in love for real this time. _

Loki’s clumsy and inexperienced, but the fact that it’s Loki doing this to him more than makes up for that. Thor’s gentle now, stroking Loki’s hair, trying to control the urge to shove himself in harder. He’s never done this before, after all and Thor wants to make it easy for him. Loki’s hands cup his buttocks, and although he’d like some skin-on-skin contact the fact that he’s all but fully clothed and Loki is naked is working for him too. He hums encouragement as Loki starts to use his tongue, and it doesn’t take much more to push him over into an orgasm that leaves him woozy and warm and so perfectly blissful that he wants to curl up in the pile of clothes they’ve gathered and fall asleep.

He grins to himself, imagining Loki’s reaction. Instead he hauls himself up to squeeze in next to Loki on the bench.

“That better?”

Loki nods, wiping at his mouth. 

“Good. Now try those on so we can get out of here.”

Loki frowns at him. “You’re serious about buying these?”

“Yup.”

Loki rolls his eyes. “Fine.” 

For him it’s practically gracious. He sighs and squirms at the T-shirts that cling to his chest, and won’t even try on the more day-glo of the board shorts.

“What’s this?” he asks, holding up a slippery hank of black fabric.

“Swimming cossie,” Thor says.

“It looks like a napkin. For a dwarf.”

“It’s black. You like black. Try it on.”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

Loki curses, but pulls the trunks on. “You can see everything!”

“Yeah,” grins Thor, “I know.”

“If you think I’m parading around in a  _ speedo _ .”

“It’s not a bloody speedo, mate. It’s shorts.”

“Barely. I’m not wearing this.”

“Yeah you are.”

“Why?”

“Because your arse looks great in it, and because I say so.”

Loki turns to face him, hands on hips. “It’s obscene.”

“You’re obscene. Letting me feel you up in the changing room. Letting me make you cum.” 

Loki winces. “Fuck, Thor.”

Thor laughs. “Uh-oh. Looks like you’re getting hard again. I love those swimmers on you. Chuck them on the pile and get dressed. Don’t want to keep dad waiting. He’s arsey enough, without missing lunch.”

“Alright, alright, if it’ll shut you up!” Loki says. “Thanks, I guess.”

“For what? The shopping or the handie?”

“The shopping,” Loki replies in his most haughty tones.

Thor smiles and shakes his head. Is this how he’s going to be every time? Each hot surrender followed by another wall of ice? Well, he’s not going to let Loki get away with it that easily. He bends down and scoops Loki’s boxers off the floor, shoving them into his pocket.

“What are you doing?” Loki demands.

“We’re on holiday aren’t we?” He pats his pocket. “Souvenir. Plus, every time you think about giving me one of your bloody  _ looks _ , I want you to think about how you’re literally bollock naked under those baggy shorts of yours and remember why.”

Loki’s too outraged to reply.

Thor laughs again. “Yeah. You’re  _ definitely _ hard again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find my Thorki fanart and other fandom nonsense on my Twitter @BawdryW


	5. Chapter 5

_If anyone ever saw this I’d have to jump off a bridge. There’d be no coming back from it._

They’d all of them been quiet on the drive back, exhausted by the heat and the crowds. It had been natural enough for them to drift off to their respective rooms, but _this._

What sort of sicko is Loki becoming?

His bed here is as over-sized as the rest of the mansion on the edge of the sands, but the absurd plush unicorn still takes up more than half of it. Loki snuggles in deeper, breathing in the scent of cotton candy and fried dough, and most of all _Thor_ who’d carried it under his arm for a good hour in the hot sun.

_Getting off on smelling some guy’s sweat. This is a new low for you._

The bag of new clothes lies where he dropped it on the floor. He has very mixed thoughts about those clothes. On one hand, it pisses him off- Thor flashing his money around, acting like Loki’s some slob with no sense of his own style. On the other hand the memory of the steady blue eyes moving up and down his body as he’d tried on the things Thor had picked for him gets him hard all over again. Not to mention what they’d done after that. Loki barely said a word during lunch. Hardly tasted the seafood they’d eaten, although it’s usually his favourite cuisine. His mind was still back there in that close, dim space and the sensation of Thor’s hands on his body, the taste of his cock, freighted with musk and salt from the heat. He’d looked up and seen the sweat trickling down that perfect flat stomach and he’d wanted to lick it off. To taste every inch of Thor, to worship him the way someone with such a dismayingly Godlike body ought to be worshiped.

_Right. As if I’d give him the satisfaction._

There’s a small part of him that wonders if denying his own satisfaction just to avoid Thor getting one up on him might be more than slightly ridiculous, but he’s used to dismissing such thoughts.

_I never claimed to be mentally healthy._

He wishes it was Thor with him in bed. _Tonight. He promised._ But Loki’s learned his lesson when it comes to trusting lads with pretty faces, and he’s determined not to make any assumptions that are going to leave him looking like an idiot.

His phone buzzes and he digs under the duvet for it.

**:Feel like a swim?**

Thor. He hates that just getting a bloody text message has his heart beating harder.

**:Sure**

**:Good. Wear those new swimming togs ;D**

_Togs? What kind of a word is togs?_

It would be easier to lean into his usual haughtiness if Thor’s accent didn’t leave him weak at the knees.

He clambers up off the bed, shucking his clothes as he goes. The new swimming trunks look even smaller than he’d remembered when he pulls them on. The thin fabric shows the outline of his cock in the front, and clings to his buttocks in the back.

_More like bloody hot pants than a swimming costume._ Does he really intend to leave his room dressed like this?

**:I look ridiculous** he texts Thor.

**:Bet you don’t. Send me a picture?**

**:No**

**:Yeah though.**

Swearing to himself Loki snaps a quick mirror selfie. He peers at it critically. Okay, so his body isn’t terrible. He runs every morning when he’s at home, and swims twice a week at the Serpentine when the weather’s not too miserable. His physique is pretty good if you’re into the athletic look, although he’s certainly no Thor. His face isn’t actively hideous either. What is it then that makes him feel so insecure? Is it possible he’s wrong to perceive himself this way? It makes no sense that anyone should be _less_ than the sum of their parts.

_Could he really think I’m hot?_

It seems impossible, but then Thor doesn’t seem the type for mind games. He sends the picture before he can change his mind, then goes to the ensuite to grab a towel, which he wraps tightly around his waist.

* * *

It’s always a shock for Loki to step out of the cold of the air conditioning into the sultry heat of the outdoors. Back home it’s usually the other way round- leaving the warmth of your house and hunching your shoulders against the damp and the chill as you step into the street. The pool certainly looks inviting- even the hotels he’s stayed at in Spain haven't had pools as luxurious as this one. The pool is built on a large multi-level upper deck of the house, on the ocean side of the property. The tops of palms and flowering shrubs brush the deck on two sides, and the third side gives a view down onto the beach through the low glass wall. The pool area is built along the same lines of the house- sleek, modern and minimalist, with tasteful waterfalls, a large hot tub and a sleek shower room made of one way glass- for those who get off on the idea of soaping their bits in public without actually been seen, Loki imagines.

_Rich people!_

He’s torn as usual between admiring the sheer spectacle, and his feeling of being an outsider here. It’s not right that anyone should live like this. It seems sick that all this space and luxury should be available for just four people. He supposes Thor’s used to it. Does it make your world less beautiful to become accustomed to beautiful things?

_Maybe I’ll grow accustomed to him one day._

Thor is stretched out on a wide sun lounger next to the water. He sits up as Loki approaches, pushing his sunglasses down his nose.

“That’s cheating.”

Loki smirks and pats his towel. “You should learn to be more specific. Think of me as an evil genie”

Thor shakes his head. “Grant my wish and take it off, you weirdo. There’s not even anyone around. Dad’s asleep and your mum went out.”

Typical mum. She never has been the lounging by the pool type. Most of their previous holidays involved clambering around tedious ruins or going on long, sweltering hikes in the hills above the beach towns where other holidaymakers were actually enjoying themselves.

“Do I have to take it off for you?” Thor stands up, and grabs at the towel, pulling Loki up against him. He wants to protest, but Thor kisses him, rough and hungry, his tongue shoving into Loki’s mouth, stealing his words. He barely notices when Thor whisks the towel away and throws it aside, he’s too hungry for his body. Thor’s skin is warmed by the sun, and he jumps when Loki wraps his cool hands around his slim waist.

“Are you a reptile or something? Brrrr.”

“Warm me up then,” Loki says.

Thor grabs his hand and tugs him to the sun lounger. “Lie down, on your front.”

“What are you going to do?” asks Loki, half suspicious, half hopeful. 

“What I said I would this morning.” Thor picks up a tube of sunscreen from the table and wags it at Loki. “Can’t have your mum growling at me if you get flash-fried.”

“Growling at you? She’s not a bear.”

Thor rolls his eyes. “Like...yells at me. Tells me off. I thought you folks spoke English?”

“Well your lot clearly don’t.”

“Just lie down and shut up.”

“At least your chat up lines are golden,” Loki says, as witheringly as he can manage in the face of Thor in his swimming costume; It’s a struggle to keep his eyes where they should be.

Thor smiles at him, his own eyes narrowing. “Don’t have to chat you up, do I? I reckon I’ve got you hooked.”

He cards his fingers through Loki’s hair pushing it back from his brow, and Loki can’t help but shiver. 

“You gonna keep stalling, or you gonna lie down like we both want?” Thor’s fist closes and gives Loki’s hair a gentle tug. “Mind your big brother.”

“Or what?” Loki manages to say. Thor yanking on his hair- however gently- has gotten his heart thundering.

Thor grins. “Fun question. Let’s come back to that one.” He lets Loki go. “But it’s up to you. We can just swim if you want.”

Prolonging the argument is clearly futile, and he _definitely_ didn’t come out here just to swim, so Loki lies down arranges himself on the sun lounger as decoratively as he’s able to. It’s almost as wide as his twin bed back home and a lot more comfortable.

Thor pats his backside. “Good chap.”

“Is that meant to be a British accent? It doesn’t sound anything like...” his sentence is cut in two as Thor tugs his swimming costume down over his ass.

“What are you doing?”

“Being thorough. Hush up.”

And he’s too overwhelmed by the sensation of Thor’s hands, now slicked with sunscreen gliding down his back to even begin to quarrel.

Such big hands, and so strong as they squeeze at his shoulders, bullying away the tension he always carries there. When Thor lifts Loki’s hair and works his thumbs into the tight muscles of his neck, Loki can’t help but sigh.

“That’s it. You’re meant to relax on holiday.”

Relaxed isn’t quite the word for it. His hardening cock is trapped uncomfortably beneath him, and despite what Thor said about their being all alone, Loki feels incredibly exposed with his trunks pulled down around his thighs and another man’s hands exploring his body.

_And doesn’t that make it even hotter?_

Thor is just as thorough as he promised, working the sunscreen first into Loki’s arms and shoulders, and then his back. Loki squirms as Thor teases his way down his ticklish ribs and earns a light slap on the ass, which makes him squirm even more, rubbing the horny ache of his cock against the towel beneath him.

“Like that, do you?” Thor asks.

Loki makes a muffled noise that might possibly be ‘yes.’

“Good to know.”

He doesn’t bother to object when Thor pulls his trunks the rest of the way down his legs and off over his ankles. The sensation of those big hands squeezing and caressing his aching feet is too good. Thor makes quick work of his calves, but slows down again when he reaches Loki’s thighs, stroking the lotion into his skin, with long, lingering caresses. Loki finds himself opening his legs to Thor’s touch, arching his back as Thor’s hands move down between his thighs, pushing them even wider. He’s well aware of how he must look with his ass up in the air, all but begging Thor to put his hands where Loki wants them, but he no longer cares. His pride is less important than the shivery core of need that shoots white-hot flickers of pleasure up from his balls and his cock and his belly until his whole body is alight with it.

He has to bite into the flesh of his arm to stay at least somewhat quiet when Thor spreads his buttocks apart. He’s not sure if it’s shame or desire that makes his face blaze red, but it doesn’t much matter. He can’t help but arch his back deeper and spread his knees as wide as he’s able.

“This is what you want?” Thor asks softly.

“Yes, fuck yes.”

“What’s the magic word?”

“ _Please_.”

Loki moans as Thor’s finger brushes his hole, then rests there, stroking slow, gentle circles that Loki thinks might actually drive him mad if they go on much longer.

He gasps as Thor’s other hand snakes beneath his raised hips to squeeze his cock.

“Fuck mate, you’re dripping, and I’m only halfway done.”

Thor makes no attempt to jerk him off like he had earlier, instead his hand closes more tightly around Loki’s prick. It’s not quite painful, but the message is clear- don’t move.

The finger teasing his hole starts to move faster. Loki wants to shove himself back into it, to feel it push inside him, but he’s trapped in place. There’s nothing he can do but wait there, stripped naked and spread open as Thor plays with his hole. The hand wrapped around his prick is just tight enough to keep him hard, but there’s not enough friction to bring him off, and so he’s left miserably balanced on the edge of an orgasm.

_Perhaps not miserably._

“Fuck you look good like this,” Thor says. “Much better than you do stalking around like bloody Dracula. If this was my house I’d keep you like this all the time. Naked and horny, and begging for my cock in your arse.”

Loki makes a noise that’s suspiciously like a whimper before he can cut himself off by biting down on his arm again.

“Reckon that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Thor’s finger presses gently now against the defenseless ring of Loki’s ass, not quite penetrating him.

“Tell me,” he demands.

“Yes,” Loki whispers. 

“Good.” Thor lets him go. “Roll over, I have to get your front.”

_Bastard!_

But he’s way too turned on to sweep off back to his room, or even to be more than a shade mortified at the way his cock twitches and leaks against his stomach when he’s spread out on his back. The smile on Thor’s face is so smug that Loki longs to give him a good kick in the face, but in the next second Thor’s hands are on his chest, squeezings his pectorals, pinching his stiff nipples until he’s arching his back again, trying to press himself more firmly into Thor’s hands once more.

Thor swears under his breath, then clambers onto the sun lounger next to Loki, pulling him into his arms, kissing him hungrily, their legs tangled together as they grab at one another, so that it’s half wrestling, half makeout. Loki pulls down Thor’s own trunks, sliding his hand around that magnificent cock. Has anything felt so powerful in his life as that hot, hard prick twitching in his fingers? Thor’s hand is back between Loki’s legs a second later, and their kisses become slower, more tender, but no less hungry. Thor is looking at him he realises, blue eyes narrowed with some emotion Loki can’t quite place. He wants to look away, but Thor’s gaze holds him steady, their faces inches apart, their breath mingling and growing harsher as they touch each other. His orgasm is building in him like a great wave getting ready to break, and he can tell that Thor is close too; His heavy brow furrows and his lips are slightly parted. Every strand of his hair is lit gold by the sun, from the long strands that brush Loki’s own face to the stubble on his jawline. It’s like Loki’s seeing the world in high definition for the first time. He can see the pulse of Thor’s blood at his neck, the spray of freckles across his nose.

_I want to know the whole of his body this well. I want to have him in my heart for always. For all the lonely times to come. Maybe I can get through it all if I have this memory to hide in. If I can’t have him with me always, at least I’ll have his phantom to summon._

The strength of the feeling confuses him. _What is this? What am I doing?_

What’s certain is Thor. The strong arms holding him close. The gentle, insistent hand working his cock, making him submit to pleasure, until his orgasm explodes out of him and Thor is stopping his cries with his mouth.

_Never mind that someone could hear_ , Loki thinks desperately. _I think I have a bigger problem on my hands. I think I’m in love with you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find my nostly Marvel fan art and other assorted nerderies on Twitter @BawdryW


	6. Chapter 6

“I drove thirteen hours, just following the road until the road ran out. There was a sheep station, and then just...nothing. I’d planned on making a fire to cook some beans- live out the cowboy fantasy- but in the end I was too tired to bother. I just laid my sleeping pad down in the dirt next to the truck. The dirt was still warm from how hot the day was, like I was lying on the back of something alive. There were no birds calling, no cicadas, no trees to rustle, but there was still _sound_. Always is in the Outback. I can’t describe what it is-like the planet breathing. And the sky was like nothing you can imagine. No cities for hundreds of miles, so there was no light except for the stars and it felt like I could see forever. I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as the sky that night.”

 _Not until now_. 

They’re in the hot tub now, sitting not quite together, but not quite apart either. Loki watches him intently as he speaks, his face very still. Thor doesn’t get the sense with him-as he does with his other friends- that he’s thinking up what to say next himself. Loki actually listens. It’s a little unsettling.

“I kind of felt like I was looking down more than looking up. Like I was pinned to the earth, hanging over this vast eternity, and if I peeled myself loose, I could float down to meet it, fall back into the stars... Like I’d lived there once and I’ll go back there one day. Sounds stupid I guess.”

“I’d like to see it,” Loki says.

“Would you?”

“Yes. I think it would be...reassuring.”

“Reassuring, how?”

Loki smiles faintly. “That as vast as the universe is, there’s a place for us in it. A perfect us-shaped hole in reality where we belong, and that we call ours; for a few years at least. Until we fall back into the stars. It’s _magical_ being alive, but we don’t often get to see it. We’re looking at it from ground-level instead of from hanging above.”

Thor shakes his head. He’d expected some smart remark about Thor being stoned (which he isn’t) or something obvious, like how small the sky makes you feel. He hadn’t expected Loki to grasp what it was he’d felt that night, and explain it in a way he’d never manage himself.

“So yeah,” Thor finishes, a little limply. “That was my best holiday. Just me and a tent and my Ute. Real Aussie bollocks. What about you?”

Loki grimaces. “I’ve never been anywhere interesting.”

“You’ve come here,” Thor says.

“I guess.” He frowns. “I suppose this is my best one...Or at least it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

The sun is setting now, shards of copper and gold dancing on the waves. The soft light softens Loki’s face, gilds the curve of his lips, the delicate line of his nose. Thor wants to kiss him, but doesn’t trust himself not to say something he’ll regret. Down on the beach someone’s radio is playing a lost, faraway song, but most of the holidaymakers are packing up for the day, lugging buckets and bags and furled umbrellas, or sleeping children slung across their shoulders. In a month from now this whole town will have emptied out. The seasonal businesses will shutter, and the crowds dwindle to locals. Summer is nearly over for another year.

“Where will you go after this?” Thor asks. “Are you coming to New York?”

Loki shakes his head. “No, I start Uni in September. Back in London. I thought you knew that?”

“Oh. I was hoping...” He trails off.

“Hoping what?” says Loki, testily. “I don’t want to live in his house.”

“I know, but New York is fun, and I barely see him when we’re at the apartment. He all but lives in his office. It’d be like this. Just us. I could show you around the city.”

“Show me around at Christmas,” Loki says, with a sigh. “Mum’s already told me your dad is paying to fly me over when term ends.” 

Perhaps he catches the disappointment in Thor’s look because he leans over to kiss his shoulder. “I’d rather see Australia, anyway. Maybe one day you can drive me out into the middle of nowhere and show me those stars?”

“I guess I could. _We’re_ kind of hitched together now just like our folks are, aren’t we?”

It’s both thrilling and disturbing to think of- _This guy is going to be in my life a long time, one way or another._ All the more reason what they’re doing is a seriously terrible idea. There’s literally no way this works out for them. _You’d better hope he never catches feelings the way you’ve caught them, or you’re both fucked._

But he doesn’t regret it, and he couldn’t stop now, even if he wanted to.

They float in thoughtful silence until the lights in the house come on, and Odin walks stiffly out onto the deck, holding an ice bucket stuffed with bottles.

“Ah, there the two of you are. Beer? Your Mother assures me it’s alright, Loki and I know Thor drinks behind my back anyway.”

 _He’s in a good mood_. 

Presumably Odin thinks the two of them are falling in line. If only he knew.

But Thor can’t think about _that_ now, and he can’t stare at Loki’s arse in those tiny togs as he climbs out of the hot tub either. He’d wanted more the minute they’d stopped their fumble on the sun lounger, but Loki had leaped up and dived (badly) into the pool, and they’d had their afternoon swim after all. Weirdly, the talking has been almost as much fun as the fucking- an unusual situation for Thor. And in a way having to wait like this makes it more exciting. The amused look Loki gives him out of the corner of his eye as he settles himself in the same sun lounger they’ve christened makes Thor shiver. _He’s trouble, that one._

Thor’s no idiot, but he’s a simple person, with strong, straightforward emotions. Every glimpse he gets of Loki is different- like looking into a fractured mirror. Cold, clever and self-possessed, then lonely and insecure or filled with chaotic mischief. He’s still not sure which is the true Loki, or if they all are. And then of course there’s the way he looks when Thor pins him down. Melting, and vulnerable and all but begging Thor to show the strength to smash through his defenses. The way he squirmed and moaned when Thor cracked him across the arse. How guilty he’d looked admitting he liked it.

_Okay, I thought we weren’t thinking about this?_

He grabs his towel and piles it onto his lap, making a show like he’s using it to twist off his bottle cap. 

_Is it totally obvious?_

Loki’s smirk tells him it is. Thank god Odin’s staring out to sea. 

“Your mother’s missing the sunset. Frigga! I told you to have Marcus bring out the snacks!”

Loki’s mum smiles at Odin’s grumbling as she carries the bowls of chippies outside.

“They are rather heavy, love. Two whole bowls, and me a mere woman.”

Odin chuckles, and shakes his head. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

 _Maybe she’s a good match for him after all? She’s the only person I know who isn’t terrified of him._ _  
_ Even Thor is wary of his father’s stormy temper, but Frigga treats it like a joke, and Odin seems to trick himself into thinking that was how he meant it to begin with. 

Loki’s frowning at the two of them. Is he thinking the same thing?

“Have a good walk?” Thor asks Frigga.

Odin snorts. “I told you to take the car. Sophie will drive you anywhere you want to go.”

“She likes walking,” Loki says, flatly.

“It was lovely, yes,” Frigga says, smiling at Thor. “I went down to the dunes. So peaceful out there. There was a group of teenagers flying a kite, and they let me have a turn. I haven’t done that since I was a girl.”

Odin laughs. “Kites, eh? I had one as a boy. A big black raven on it. It got tangled in the power lines outside our apartment. It’s a miracle I wasn’t killed.”

Loki makes a noise that’s not quite a snort. Thor’s torn between being impressed by his daring, and silently willing Loki to keep quiet. Today has been pretty cool, and tonight... well, a huge row might make Loki more determined to join him in bed later, but he’d rather it happened because Loki wanted it. Or more specifically, wanted _him_. Not just to get back at their parents.

“How about you men?” Frigga asks. “Did you have any adventures?”

Loki’s eyes gleam with mischief, so Thor speaks quickly. “We hung around by the pool mostly. And dad was asleep.” 

“And a very nice sleep it was too. I hope you’re hungry. Marcus has made quite the spread. Nice not to have to cook, eh?”

“Mum likes cooking,” Loki says. “I suppose you didn’t know that, either?”

“I like a night off as well though,” Frigga says. Her tone is bright, but the look she gives Loki is a warning one. “It’s such a treat to eat something someone else made.”

“Some servant, you mean.”

Frigga sets her drink down with a bang. “Can’t you stand it that we all had a nice day? Do you have to prove to everyone what a rotten time you’re having?”

Loki shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything.”

“Forget how rude you’re being to everyone?”

Thor expects some acid remark, but Loki surprises him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night and it was a long day. I didn’t mean to be...”

“A stroppy terror?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Frigga frowns, as though she’s trying to work something out, and Thor hopes she’s not as sharp as she seems.

“Fine. Eat some of these crisps will you? You’re getting skinny again.” 

Odin and Frigga eventually move over to the hot tub, leaving Thor to polish off the chippies while Loki sucks down a second beer. 

“You all right, mate?” Thor asks, eventually.

Loki shrugs. “She doesn’t understand me any more.” He looks up at Thor, and his eyes are dark and lost. “She was the only one who ever did. She doesn’t get it- like I’d care they had a nice day or like I’d think they’d care if _I_ hadn’t.”

“You’re not upset because they’re happy,” Thor says. “It’s because you feel pushed out.”

“I don’t _feel_ pushed out, I _am_ pushed out. Even though he knows nothing about her. I get it. She finally gave up on me.” He chews at a nail. “It’s no coincidence she fell into bed with her boss right when I’d fucked things up so badly. She wanted a new life-one without her fucked up kid in the middle of it. Maybe subconsciously, maybe not. I can’t even blame her. Who’d want me? I’m a mess.”

“At least you’re a hot mess,” Thor says.

Loki glares at him a second, then breaks into a grudging smile. “Do I sound totally pathetic or just partly?”

“Just partly.” 

“Thanks. And it looks like I was wrong.”

“About what?”

Loki glances at him, then frowns down at the ground cheeks pink. “Looks like there _is_ someone who understands.”

“Well, I'm kind of going through the same thing,” Thor says. “Who could understand better than me?” His beer bottle slides through his sweating palms. _Calm down, or better yet shut up._ But surely ‘ _there is someone who understands_ ’ isn’t the type of thing you say to a casual fuck? Can Loki feel it too, or is Thor just hearing what he wants to hear?

“We haven’t known each other long,” Thor says, not really knowing where he’s going with this.

“But we know each other well, anyway.” Loki finishes. He pushes his hair back in that nervous gesture that is already so familiar. 

“Thor...”

“What?” 

“I hated you when we met- before we met, actually. And then I found out that I liked you. Fucking annoying it was too. It changed.” He chews his lip. “It _keeps_ changing. Because now...”

The waves freeze on the sand. The wind holds her breath. 

“Loki, what is it?”

“No, never mind.” Loki stretches ostentatiously. “I’m talking shit tonight, sorry. I actually _couldn’t_ sleep last night. I keep thinking.”

“Thinking about what?” Thor manages to say through his confusion.

Loki gives him a devilish look. “About what we're going to do a couple of hours from now. How you’re going to teach your stepbrother how to take your cock up his arse.”

_No. Tell me what you were going to tell me._

But the darts Loki’s fired find their mark- those fucked up words in that crisp British accent get his cock throbbing and his mind flooding with hot, X-rated images. It’s easy to let the confusion go, lapsing into fantasies of Loki naked and pliant underneath him that carry him through both dinner and the arty movie Frigga insists they watch together. Finally, Odin shuffles off to bed and they’re free to go. Loki gives him a look so full of sly promise as the two of them part ways that he feels almost feral with desire. _Just let it be this. Let it be fucking and nothing more._ Fucking is dangerous enough. Anything else is madness.

* * *

He knows he ought to wait, but he can’t help himself. The picture Loki sent him earlier is too perfect a tease- especially while he waits for the real thing to arrive. Sensibly, Loki’s snapped the picture from the neck down, but damn, what a body. That tight little arse, and those long legs. Graceful, you’d call it, but strong too. He remembers Loki shooting that battered old air rifle, hitting target after target. What had he looked like with a knife in his hand getting ready to unzip his bully’s guts for him? 

_Now that’s a fucked-up thing to think about._

But he is thinking about it, and his hand moves faster on his cock. Such a hostile, prickly little fuck, but he’ll yield for Thor. He’ll let Thor do whatever he wants. 

_You’re going to teach your stepbrother how to take your cock up his arse._

Fuck! It had been almost a dare, the way he said it, and it brings out the side of Thor that has been mostly slumbering until now. He wants to win that dare. He wants to take charge. Wants to be cruel, almost.

_Is it wrong?_

Surely no worse than anything else they’re doing. _And he wants it too. He couldn’t make it any more obvious._ He thinks again of spanking him. The pale skin turned pink, the sound Loki had made. _More._ He’s never done anything like that before- never really thought about it. But something in Loki brings it out in him.

Thor jumps as the handle of his door turns. 

“Thor?”

“Who else? Get your arse inside.”

Loki closes the door softly behind him, and pads almost silently over to Thor’s bed.

“Just checking! This house is huge and it’s dark in here.”

“Mood lighting,” says Thor, who spent way longer than he wants to admit fiddling with the lamps and dimmers. 

“Do you think they can hear us?”

“Nah, their room’s a floor up on the other side of the house. We can be as loud as we want, I reckon.” _Besides, I thought you wanted them to hear us. Wasn’t that our masterplan?_

He waits for Loki to hop into bed, but he just stands there with his shoulders slightly hunched, and his arms wrapped around his chest. Like Thor he’s wearing a T-shirt and his boxers, and seems to wish he had at least another layer.

“Shy again, are you?” Thor asks, amused. “Didn’t look shy by the pool earlier. What the fuck do you have to be shy about now? You already showed me everything.”

 _If you’ve got this wrong he’s going to unzip_ your _guts, knife or no knife._

But to Thor’s relief Loki’s expression softens into the one he’s getting to know so intimately. _Unlike the rest of him._ He reaches up to give Loki’s swelling cock a squeeze. “That’s better. Get in bed, eh?”

He pulls Loki forward, gentle but firm and Loki tumbles into his arms. Thor rolls on top of him, pinning him down on the bed, nipping at his neck, sucking at his lower lip, grinding his own erection into Loki’s, until he’s moaning Thor’s name. Thor yanks Loki’s T-shirt off over his head so he can suck on his nipples, shucking his own shirt off too, so they’re pressed together heartbeat to heartbeat.

“That’s better. Mmmm, you taste amazing. Sunscreen, and pool water, and your hair still smells like fairground food.”

“No it doesn’t. I showered!”

“Yeah it does. You taste like summer.” He laughs. “Hey, I just remembered something.”

“What?”

“You owe me.”

Loki raises an eyebrow. “Owe you?”

“Yeah.” Thor rolls off Loki. “For that bloody roller coaster. I said if I went on it, you have to do something for me.”

“Right. I hoped you’d forgotten.”

Thor only grins. _Like hell you did._

“Well,” he continues. “I reckon I know what you have to do.”

Loki’s eyes have gone very wide. He looks deliciously vulnerable spread out on Thor’s bed, naked except for his tented boxers. _And we’ll be losing those in a second too_.

“What do I have to do?” Loki asks. 

“Don’t sound so pissy. I think you’ll enjoy it. You seemed to earlier. But just in case you don’t, if you tell me to stop, I’m gonna stop, so don’t say it unless you really mean it.”

Loki glares at him. “Stop what? Just _tell_ me.”

Thor shakes his head. “You think it’s a good idea giving me orders when I can tell you to do literally whatever I feel like, and you’re going to do it?”

“I...I don’t have to,” says Loki.

“No,” Thor agrees. “Course you don’t, but you’re going to anyway. We both know it.” He sits up on the bed, and shuffles backwards to lean against the pile of pillows heaped at the headboard.

“Mmm, comfy.”

Loki scowls at him. “Thor...”

“Pull your boxers down to your knees, then bend over my lap,” Thor says. He has to laugh at the way Loki’s face blazes red right away.

“What are you going to do?” The imperious tone has dropped away. Loki sounds a little scared- _and a lot hopeful._

“I’m going to teach my new brother what happens when he acts like a cheeky little cunt,” Thor says, cheerfully. “Go on. Boxers down.” He snuggles deeper into the pillows, stretching luxuriantly. “Do it slowly. Put on a good show for your big bro and I might go easy for you.”

“I bloody hate how hot you look when you do that smug fucking smile,” Loki says.

Thor gives him a wink. “Well you won’t be able to see it in a sec. I’m hot _and_ considerate.”

Loki rolls his eyes, but he gets up on his knees, hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his briefs. 

“And remember,” Thor says. “You earned this.”

Loki nods. He lets out a long shaky breath, but Thor can see him starting to relax. _Starting to trust me to take control._

That thought is enough to bring Thor’s hand back to his cock. He loves the way Loki’s eyes widen when he kicks his own boxers off and starts to stroke himself.

“The longer you stall the meaner I’m gonna be,” Thor says. He has to grin at the visible effort it takes for Loki to tear his eyes away from Thor’s dick, not to mention how cute he looks blushing as he pushes his shorts down his narrow hips to puddle round his knees. His stiff cock is flushed as pink as his face and all Thor wants to do is wrap his lips around it, but a promise is a promise.

He pats his knee. “Bend over.”

Loki shuffles over. His ‘I’m too cool for this shit’ mask is back on, but Thor thinks it’s hanging crooked. _In a minute you’re gonna forget all about pretending you don’t give a fuck._

He starts to crawl gingerly over Thor’s thighs, and Thor helps him out by shoving him forward so he’s sprawled face down across Thor’s legs.

“Ah fuck mate, look at that tight little arse.”

Loki’s acid reply is dampened by the sheets, and Thor laughs. He gives Loki’s arse a squeeze, then slips his hand down to push his thighs apart. “Good, spread them wide, show me what you’ve got.”

He expects another muffled protest, but Loki slides his knees apart, arching his back to raise that pert little backside, and Thor has to bite his lip at the shifting of Loki’s needy dick against his thighs- not to mention the nudge of Loki’s hip against his own. He can’t help but slide his finger between those two vulnerable buttocks to tease at the tight pink knot of Loki’s hole. It’s worth it just to hear him moan and feel his cock twitch.

“After I’ve spanked you I’m gonna fuck you. See how fucking sarky you feel then.”

Loki starts to say something, but Thor’s done with talking.

* * *

“You think you’re so...”

He gets half his sentence out before Thor’s big hand lands on his backside and his words turn into a yelp. The sound of Thor’s hand on his flesh is almost as mortifying as the pain, which soon fades into a wonderful warmth. 

_He’s seriously doing it. He’s fucking_ spanking _me_ . _Why am I even surprised? I bet this is the kind of thing guys at those posh private schools do all_...

His stream of thought is severed just as efficiently as words were, and as Thor picks up his pace there’s no space for thought at all. All Loki can do is whimper and try not to squirm (For both the sake of his pride and his hungry cock which is just about ready to shoot all over Thor’s lap.) It’s a battle he was bound to lose. Soon, his whole backside feels like it’s been sizzled, and each new blow lands on already tender flesh. Even Thor’s free hand planted between his shoulders squashing his chest into the mattress isn’t enough to keep him still....but it’s sure as hell enough to keep him from escaping, and after what feels like an hour, but is maybe five minutes, the fight drains out of him, and he lies limply over Thor’s lap, gasping and panting for breath as he gives him the punishment he earned at the fairground.

Perhaps Thor was waiting for him to give up the fight, because soon after Loki submits to him, he stops, running his palm over Loki’s ass instead.

“Wow, you look like you sat on a hotplate. Worth the roller coaster I reckon.”

“You enjoyed the rollercoaster,” Loki mutters.

Thor pushes him off his lap. “Sit up.”

Wincing, Loki obeys.

“Look me in the eye.”

It’s surprisingly difficult, but Loki manages it.

“ _You_ enjoyed _that_. Just like before. Go on, say it.”

“I...”

“I can spank you again. I got two hands to wear out.”

“I enjoyed it,” Loki mutters. 

Thor slides his hand around Loki’s cock and gives it a squeeze that makes him see stars. “Yeah you did. Come here.”

He pulls Loki into his lap to straddle him, his fingers digging into Loki’s well-spanked buttocks as they kiss. Loki hopes Thor can’t feel how much he’s trembling. It’s not fear (well, not all fear) it’s just how much he wants this. He’s been touch-starved for so long, and everything that’s happened between them is so fucking intense.

“So,” Thor breathes. “You ready?”

“Loki nods. “Show me.”

Thor rolls the two of them onto the tangled sheets, kissing Loki’s neck, sucking at his nipples, then moving down to take the length of his cock into his warm, wet mouth.

“Oh. God, I’m so close!” Loki warns.

“Already? I guess you really do like being spanked.” He tumbles Loki onto his front, and pushes his buttocks apart, his tongue flickering against Loki’s hole. The stubble of his beard scouring Loki’s scalded flesh is maddening, and the combination of pain and pleasure makes Loki feel way drunker than the beer he downed during dinner. He’s embarrassed as fuck at the desperate little noises that escape his lips as Thor’s tongue darts in and out of his helplessly clenching hole, but in spite of that he finds himself spreading his knees wider, pressing himself up to meet Thor’s insistent tongue. His cock is a shivery pulse of need and he knows he isn’t going to last much longer.

“Please...please just fuck me.”

Thor chuckles. “Be patient. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. I’m...Ah, fuck!”

Thor’s finger slips inside him in one long slow push, cold and slippery with lube.

“See?”

“It doesn’t fucking hurt, it feels so fucking good.”

Thor gives his finger a wicked twitch. “I didn’t know my little brother was such a slut. Maybe I should spank you again?”

“Do whatever you want, just please don’t stop.”

“No worries there.”

Loki hisses when Thor shoves two fingers inside him, but the sting of his muscle adjusting to the new width doesn’t last long. The slick sound of Thor’s fingers fucking his ass makes him moan, and the third finger barely hurts at all.

“You sure you never did this before?” Thor asks.

“I think-Ahhhh, fuck!- I think I’d remember.”

“Fair point. I’m gonna turn you over. I want to see your face when I pop your cherry.”

Thor seems to lose a little of his cockiness when they’re face to face again, and Loki’s glad. It feels like an important moment, and it would feel cheap in a bad way if Thor joked his way through it. Stupid. He knows he shouldn’t want this to mean as much to Thor as it does to him. If it’s just two bored teenagers trying to get back at their parents it’s safe. The way Thor’s looking at him right now doesn’t feel safe.

He strokes Loki’s chest, and reaches up to cup his cheek. 

“Are you ready?”

“Yes. Show me what to do.”

He’s gentler than Loki imagined, pushing his legs up to his chest so he can position himself. The head of Thor’s cock pressed against Loki’s hole makes him shiver. So hard and yet so soft at the same time, as though they were made to fit one another. It stings a little as Thor presses forward and he has to will himself to relax, but Thor’s patient, and once Loki opens up to him he’s inside in one long, slow push that makes Loki dig his fingers into the sheets and sigh. 

“Good?”

“Oh God, yes.”

Thor’s eyes close in pleasure as he starts to rock his hips forward. Every thrust of his cock seems to swell the warm, giddy feeling of need building in Loki’s loins, and even when Thor shifts his weight forward, his hands either side of Loki’s head as he starts to fuck him harder Loki only wants it harder still. He wraps his legs around Thor’s back, needing the warm, slick flesh pressed closer against his own. Their eyes are locked together. There are no words, just the sounds of their mingled breath and their bodies moving in a rhythm as natural as breathing. It isn’t what he imagined it would be- quick, and hot and guilty. Instead their pace slows, and it’s sweet and slow and more intense than he’d imagined it could be.

It’s supposed to be bad, your first time. That’s what he’s heard. Perhaps it would be if he was with someone else. He’d be defensive, self-conscious, ready to make a joke of it. But Thor seems to push all of those defenses aside without trying, leaving him vulnerable and willing to put aside his wounded ego and let Thor take the lead.

“You feel so good, Loki.”

Loki’s too wrapped up in sensation to reply, but he wraps his legs more tightly around Thor’s back. _No space between us_ . _If we’re bound together now, then let’s be bound._

Thor’s breathing is getting harsher and Loki too is feeling his own orgasm start to build. Thor’s buried in him all the way, jerking his hips in punishing little thrusts that curl Loki’s toes.

“Can I...inside you?”

Loki nods. _Fuck yes, do it._

Thor’s fingers dig into his hips hard enough that there will be bruises there tomorrow. He feels the cock that stretches him so deliciously wide stiffen, and then Thor’s cumming, his hair falling into Loki’s face, his breath on Loki’s face, harsh and animalistic, their eyes locked together.

Loki hisses as Thor pulls out of him, but it turns to a sigh as Thor’s hand wraps around his cock. Their mouths come together roughly, and Loki tastes blood as Thor bites at his lip, but it’s what he needs after the tenderness.

“Do it. Cum for me,” Thor orders, and it’s like he’s only been waiting for permission all this time.

It seems like it will go on and on, his cock twitching in that big, strong hand. He’s still feeling the shivery aftershocks, when Thor rolls him back into his arms. Even now they seem to share the urge to knit themselves together, their legs intertwined, chest to chest, face to face, Thor’s eyes locked once more with Loki’s with an intensity that frightens him.

_Ask me if it was good. Make a joke. Show off. Anything._

Instead Thor says.

“I think I love you.”

Loki winces as though he’d been slapped, pulling away from Thor.

“Why did you have to say that?”

“Because it’s true!” 

“Well that’s going to be a problem.”

Thor sits up. “I know. I know. I never said I was smart, or...”

“It’s going to be a problem,” Loki interrupts, “because I think I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to finish. I've had a lot of writing projects on my plate this summer (details on my Twitter @BawdryW) and this has unfortunately been shuffled to the back of the queue a few times. If you've stuck with the story in spite of that, then many thanks!  
> This will be the last chapter of the summer segment of this story. The next time we catch up with the lads will be Loki's visit to New York for the holidays. I figured I'd keep the vacation + seasonal theme going as if this was planned all along by a genius and not the result of finishing a summer fic in fucking November. I'm probably going to post it as a new story linked to this one as a series, so keep an eye out if you're interested in learning how a hot mess turns into a seasonally chilly mess.  
> Thanks again for reading, I really appreciate it.  
> Bonus note: Ao3 takes serious issue with the words 'hot tub' and 'arse.' Ao3, are you OK, hun? Hot tubs and arses are excellent. You're missing out.


End file.
